


Mine...Ours.

by Namarea



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Durincest, F/M, Feels, Fluff, M/M, Menstruation, Multi, Other, Vaginal Sex, period sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-01-17 14:16:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 25
Words: 37,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1390828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Namarea/pseuds/Namarea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Smaug never came. Thorin inherited his reign upon the death of his grandfather and the death of his father in the same hunting accident that killed his sister's husband. Erebor remained in tact as did Dale, and Thorin's people thrive in the Lonely Mountain.</p><p>Fili and Kili have a baby sister, Gili of whom they are proud, protective and jealously guard with their lives. They are her rocks and keep her grounded in reality. Born 5 years after Fili and 3 years after Kili, the trio grow up together and slowly come to realize that sometimes a dwarf's "one" can be "two".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Birth of Gili

**Author's Note:**

> Having written all my life (mostly short stories and reams of poetry) this is my very first foray into fanficdom. I hope for kudos, but truly welcome any and all comments and feedback. 
> 
> This story will be updated periodically as the muse b*tchslaps me ;-).

 

Shortly after receiving the news of her husband’s valiant death saving the king in battle, Dis, daughter of Thrain, sister of Thorin, King Under the Mountain, went into pre-term labor with her third child.  Most dwarf babies come at night for reasons unknown, during the mother’s twelfth month. This child was coming almost a full three months too early. 

 

Thorin caught his beloved sister as the first pain shot through her middle and she doubled-over in pain. “NO! MAHAL, Thorin, NO. It is not time!” Dis called out to the gods even as she sought the comfort of her brother’s strong arms. She cried out again with the birthing pains, “Fili, Kili…”

 

“Dwalin has them, sister,” Thorin answered. “Balin, go for the midwife, and Oin,” he called over his shoulder as he lifted Dis and carried her to her bed. “Do not despair, sister. Your husband even now is in the Halls of Waiting. He will not be joined by your babe.  Of this I swear!”

 

Dis labored all night, through the next day and into the following night. Thorin never left her side, mopping her forehead, whispering to her gently and nonsensically in Khadzul. He had always loved his sister, since the first moment their mother had placed Dis in his arms as a babe. He had thought her the loveliest creature in Middle Earth and even as he watched her grow into a strong, beautiful woman, marry his best friend and begin raising a family of her own, he knew there would never be one he would respect or love more than she.

 

Her cries ripped at his soul. He willed his strength into her and when the midwife said that this babe would be the death of her, his wrath knew no bounds. He cast the midwife out of the house, lifted Dis into his arms and roused her from the effects of the draught for the pain that Oin had just given her.

 

“Dis, sister, awaken now,” Thorin shook her gently. “Dis, you must awaken and birth this babe. Fili and Kili need their mam. I need you, Dis. I do not give you leave to take yourself away from me.  Dis, please…”

 

Thorin’s agonizing plea reached deep within the medicinal haze which wrapped itself around Dis. She raised a small hand to Thorin’s face, “Brother, my love, help me…” Thorin raised his sister to lean within his arms and upon his lap. Then using his large hands, he pressed upon her stomach with all his might, helping her to push the babe from her body.

 

“Wait,” Oin said. “The babe’s head is out.” Oin cleared the babe’s mouth and unwrapped the cord from its limp neck. “One push more, my lady, should do it.”

 

Thorin helped her push once again and the babe was expelled from Dis’ body, in silence.  Oin looked at Thorin with sadness in his eyes. "A daughter my lady, my king. Perfect in every way, but I fear too tiny. I am sorry.”

 

“No, Thorin, please, please do something,” Dis’ distraught cry touched Thorin deeply and he cursed himself and his inadequacy. He was, after all, a killer, not a healer. He picked up the babe and gently shook her, meaning to send her to her father by placing a king’s kiss of acceptance and respect upon her tiny mouth. At the touch of his lips to hers a tiny mewling cry came so suddenly from the babe that Thorin almost dropped her. He reached for the swaddling and wrapped the babe gently and placed her in her mother’s arms. He had never seen so tiny a babe from any race in Middle Earth, nor one so beautiful and perfect…from the mop of darkest hair atop her head, to her midnight blue eyes, so like his own and his sisters. The tiny turned up nose, so like Kili’s and pouty, pink lips like Fili’s. It seemed this babe was the best of all of them and Thorin knew she would have his heart from that day forth…the closest to a daughter of his own that he would ever have.

 

Neither hell, high water, nor even the fierceness of Dwalin, captain of the king’s guard, could keep the young princes from the doorway of their mother’s room and they witnessed the miraculous birth of their baby sister. Fili, a mere five years old, stood with his arm securely around Kili’s shoulder, the younger prince only three and not really able to understand the goings on. Dis, still so exhausted could only gaze up at her brother with all the love in her heart and whisper, “Thank you.”

 

Thorin eased her gown from her shoulder and held the babe to her mother’s breast as Dis drifted off to sleep. He refused to allow the midwife back into the house and never left his sister’s side. When the babe was too tired to suckle, Thorin expressed some of Dis’ milk and fed the tiny infant with a dropper. “You will be the light of this family, little mouse. You will bring back the joy to this house,” Thorin cooed, having just finished feeding and changing the babe when Dis woke.

 

“Little mouse, brother? Why little mouse?” Dis asked gently.

 

Thorin brought the babe to her mother, laid her gently into Dis’ arms and smoothed back his sister’s hair from her forehead. “The tiny squeak she made upon her birth, sister. The squeak of a mouse,” Thorin shrugged and smiled. “Besides, you have not named her yet, sister.”

 

“Gili,” Dis whispered to the little bundle in her arms. “Our little mouse’s name is Gili,” she smiled up at Thorin with tears in her eyes. “Will you now be father to my children, brother?”

 

“I have ever loved them thus,” Thorin replied gently. “And though they may not be truly mine, they will ever be ours.”


	2. Growning Stronger...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first five years of Gili's life were filled with adoration and love. She had no idea how her young life was about to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Growing up an only child, I just couldn't help but insert some of my own longings for loving, protective siblings...forgive me.

 

Day after day, week after week, month after month…time passed and Gili grew stronger. She was still ever so tiny, but her will to live was as strong as any in the Durin line. Her uncle’s words proved true and she was indeed the happiness tat returned to their home.

 

Thorin was never less a king than in the presence of his niece. No matter with whom he met or where he was, he swelled with pride at the birth and growth of his niece and nephews. Girls were extremely rare in dwarf live births. They were more precious than the jewels and mithril so loved by dwarves. And Gili tugged so at Thorin’s heart that her smile was his only desire it seemed. If she ever cried, Thorin was at his wit’s end to placate her.

 

Fili and Kili were no better. They doted on their tiny baby sister. Every toy they possessed was given up to her, every sweet treat offered her. She was never even allowed to learn to walk as they lovingly carried her anywhere she wanted to be. When they argued with each other, Gili quivering lips silenced them better than any cross word from their uncle or mother. Her tiny smile the best reward the young dwarrows could ever receive.

 

Even Dis caught herself giving in to her lovely little daughter. It was hard not to do so when she thought back upon Gili’s birth and the dread that gripped her by the then too early labor.

 

As Gili grew quickly over the next few short yers, Dis would lovingly brush her daughter’s curling chestnut hair, weaving intricate braids through the unruly locks.

 

She marveled at how the child seemed to be the very meshing of Fili and Kili. Fili’s hair, so light and thick, Kili’s so dark and fine, and Gili’s fine, curly and dark with highlights shimmering through it.  Fili’s eyes bright crystal blue like the summer sky and Kili’s so dark and tumultuous. Gili, however had eyes of darkest sapphire blue, ringed in stormy grey and rimmed with dark, curling lashes. Dis knew that her daughter, like her sons, would break many a heart when she came of age.

 

Gili had one major aversion. She could not bear to be alone. It almost seemed she feared being alone. Dis had kept her close as a babe, more out of convenience than anything else. She could nurse the babe when she awoke and then remain close if anything were amiss with her tiny charge. But as Gili grew, around the time of her fifth year, Dis felt since the dwarfling was being weaned, it was time for her to sleep in her own room.

 

The first night, she and Thorin told Gili they had a surprise for her, that she had her very own room and would be sleeping there tonight. Fili and Kili had already gone to bed in their room and Gili looked from her mother to her uncle. “Gonna sweep wif Fiwi-n-Kiwi, mamma.”

 

“No, my sweet,” Dis replied patiently. “You don’t have to share. You have a room all to yourself.” Thorin picked up the child and carried her into the small room, now filled with Gili’s treasures. They tucked her in, kissed her forehead, wished her pleasant dreams and closed the door.

 

Gili pulled the covers up to her nose, looking over the coverlet into the blackness surrounding her. She could imagine all sorts of monsters prowling just beyond the bed and began to cry softly. The darkness seemed to close in around her, closer and closer and as her fear grew, so did her cries.

 

“Sister, I cannot bear the sound. Surely tonight is not the night to force this change upon the babe,” Thorin growled. “Go in to her. She needs to be comforted.”

 

“Gili is no longer a babe, brother,” Dis replied, though lines of worry creased her brow. “She must learn to comfort herself. She will cry but a little and each night will be easier for us all. See, even now she slows.” Dis continued to rock before the fire in the greatroom, knitting socks for her brother.

 

In her room, however, Gili did not cease her crying, and as she hiccupped with silent tears her fears drug her from her bed and saw her padding silently across the floor. She did not understand what she had done so wrong that her mother had banished her to the unfamiliar and frightening room alone. She did not want her mother, no longer fully trusting her, nor did she cry out for her uncle. Instead, Gili ran from the room across the hall to her brothers’ room pushing with all her might against the heavy wooden door.

 

The moonlight shone its beams through the window with enough light that Gili found the bed and eased over to the side upon which Fili slept, trying her best to crawl atop the high mattress.  Fili raised up on his elbow, rubbing his eyes and hurriedly sat up when he saw his sister, tears streaming down her chubby pink cheeks. “What’s wrong, little one? Why do you cry?” he whispered gently, picking her up and sitting her on his knee. He kissed her cheek and gently thumbed the tears away, rocking Gili slowly.

 

“Mamma left me in the dark, Fiwi,” Gili sniffled, hiccupping a cry again. “Imma scared, Fiwi. Don’ wanna be in da dark by myself.” Big tears spilled once again over her lashes and down onto her cheeks.

 

One look at her distress and Fili knew he would gladly face his mother and uncle’s wrath in the morning. “Shhh. Don’t cry, sweet baby sister. You can sleep with Kili and me tonight.” With that, Fili eased his sister down between himself and Kili, kissing the tears from her cheeks and smoothing the curls and smiling down at her.

 

Gili sighed as Fili turned on his side cuddling her close and nuzzling his nose into her sweet-smelling hair. She popped her thumb into her rosy little mouth and then sought out Kili’s hair with her other hand. Kili turned towards her in his sleep, reaching up to hold the hand tugging at his soft wavy hair. Gili felt safe, secure and very loved. Somewhere deep down inside she knew she wanted to feel this way forever.

 

“See, brother, I told you she would quiet on her own. It was just a matter of allowing her to comfort herself,” Dis said to Thorin confidently. He did not seem convinced so she said, “Come, let us check on her together. You will see that I am right.” She moved to stand near Thorin and he stood to join her. Hand-in-hand they walked toward the small room now filled with Gili’s things. They opened the door and crept inside with the small lit candle to check on what they assumed would be a sleeping Gili. They found only an empty bed.

 

Thorin grabbed another lit candle as he and Dis swept the room with wide, fearful eyes, no Gili in sight. Turning to leave the room, they saw the door to the boys’ room ajar. Thorin opened it slowly and ducked inside with Dis following just behind. The trio was sleeping soundly, Fili curled around Gili protectively, Kili sprawled out, taking up most of the bed as usual but his hand holding fast to Gili’s tiny fist in his hair.

 

“Oh yes, dear sister. Our little mouse has surely comforted herself,” Thorin whispered with a chuckle.

 

Dis rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in defeat as she heard Gili coo, “Mine.” Then even more softly she heard her sons reply, “Ours.”


	3. Spoiled Rotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoiled and stubborn, our little princess is growing into a true Durin, much to the delight of her uncle Thorin and much to the chagrin of her mother, Dis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a short chapter. Originally, it was longer but upon re-reading and re-editing it, the work just seemed to naturally part here. So yes, that means there is more to come. Of course, there will be angst and smut (eventually), but I'm a firm believer in telling the story for the sake of the story, not just telling a story to get to the porn (sue me). Yes, I love the porn (sue me again) and will get there, I promise. Right now, I just adore the little princess as a tot.

"I won’t, I Won’t, I WON’T!” Gili screamed at the top of her lungs, tiny fists on her hips, chin jutting into the air. “Don’t wanna learn cookin’ and sewin’. Wanna be wif Fiwi-n-Kiwi. Wanna watch ‘em fight. Wanna pway, mamma.”

 

Thorin walked into the kitchen to find his young niece red-faced and at odds yet again with his sister. Though Gili was just ten years old, Dis was hard-pressed to force her to do anything the child didn’t want to do. She had the passion and stubbornness of a Durin and when she dug in her heels, no one, be they king or parent, could bend her to their will. However, Dis was a Durin herself, and she knew that her daughter needed to begin the training that would one day serve her well as the matriarch of her own household.

 

Thorin supposed it didn’t help that practically the entire kingdom was so enamored with Gili that she had been spoiled rotten practically from her first moments. The birth was so difficult and the babe so tiny and fragile that no one had dared hope she would survive. But survive she did and with a mind of her own, the thought bringing a warmth to Thorin’s heart and a deeply-resonating chuckle to his lips, announcing his presence.

 

Gili turned to throw herself into her uncle’s arms, twisting her plump fingers into his long, thick hair. Her sweet lower lip quivering as she whined, “Pweeeeeze, Uncle. Don’t make me learn today. Wanna pway wif Fiwi-n-Kiwi. Mamma says I godda yearn to be a yadee. Don’ wanna be a yadee today.”

 

“Now, now, hush little mouse. We can’t have the most beautiful eyes in Erebor all full of tears, now can we?” Thorin cooed, brushing his nose over Gili’s. “Go along with your brothers. I will speak with your mother. You can be a lady another day.” He smiled as she ran on her tiptoes to her waiting brothers. They gathered her up in their arms as wiped away her tears, tweaking her nose and making her giggle.

 

Even at her young age, Gili was not one to hide her feelings, ever. Everyone in Erebor knew whenever she was happy. The rest of Middle Earth knew when she was not. She had kissed her uncle on the cheek, securing him even more firmly around her tiny finger. She had given him as big a squeeze as she could manage before squirming out of his arms and running after her brothers.

 

“Have a care for your sister, lads,” Thorin called after them as the trio ran out the door, barely hearing the, “We will,” in reply. He stared after them for a moment more, dreading the tongue-lashing to come as he turned to face his sister. There were some things even a king could not ignore. The wrath of a sister was very high on that list.


	4. The Wrath of Gili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our favorite little dwarfling brings a giant to his knees...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I realize this story may be progressing at a slower pace than most are used to, I'm just having the best time with "baby" Gili. I find her utterly adorable and so difficult to stop writing about. Rest assured, though, I will be getting to gratuitous angst and porn shortly. Just bear with me.

The children skipped away from their house as their mother lit into their uncle. Fili, who was now fifteen, serious of countenance and uber-protective of his younger siblings, knew it would be a scorcher of a fight and he was glad to remove Kili and Gili from earshot. He decided to take them to the sparring ring. He knew that Kili, now thirteen, would keep an eye on Gili and he could get some sparring in with Mister Dwalin in the process.

 

Fili had been sparring for a couple of years now, soaking up every bit of training he could with swords, axes, maces and hammers. But he definitely preferred the oversized dual dwarf swords that his father had carried. He was growing quickly and putting on the broad, hard muscles of the longbeard dwarves. As the heir-apparent to his uncle, he spent long hours learning skills outside the sparring ring as well.

 

His brother, Kili, however, was just the opposite. At thirteen, Kili was also growing, but in a tall, lithe manner considered so very un-dwarflike. Kili often found himself the butt of dwarven jokes as to his parentage and Fili spent a goodly amount of effort dividing his time between comforting his brother and pounding the shit out of the little dwarf pricks who dared to bring a frown to his brother’s perfect face.

 

Kili was dark where Fili was fair with eyes like a deep, black well. They sparkled and twinkled with mischief and mirth, but could easily turn cold with hurt or anger. Kili had no love of dwarven weapons. In truth, his body was not suited to them and most of the time he felt himself unworthy of them. Kili’s weapon of choice, much to his uncle’s chagrin, was the bow. He was deadly accurate from the day he picked up an old practice bow a few short years ago and now regularly hunted and fed his family with his skills.

 

Gili was in complete awe of her brothers. Even at her young age she knew there was something about them that no other dwarf in Erebor could claim. Yes, they were royal by birth and blood, but they were more than that. Many times she would watch them at work and play and many times she felt the description there, just out of reach before her child’s mind would drift to some other thought, often something to the effect of ‘ _how can I get them to stop treating me like a pane of glass and teach me those moves_ ’.

 

She climbed up now onto the split-rail fence enclosing the sparring ring to look down on Fili as attack after attack was deflected by him, as he parried and ducked. Kili had finished his practice shots and sat just behind her on the ground fletching replacement arrows. She had no idea that he sat there, close as he did, in case she were to fall so that he would catch her. She had no idea that both of her brothers went out of their way daily to protect her. She only knew that they were the most important beings to her in the whole of her world.

 

She cheered Fili on as he was now attacking, striking with the clangs and whangs of metal on metal. The practice swords were not sharpened, not that Gili knew that, but they could still land a bruising blow if one wasn’t careful.

 

Breath caught in Gili’s throat as Fili slipped in the mud of the ring, only to come up and block a harsh blow at the last second. She clapped her little hands with glee thinking that no one was better than her Fiwi, until he was knocked backwards hard, whacking his head on the unyielding ground, and the breath rushed out of her in a scream, “NO!”

 

Kili’s head snapped up in time to see Gili vault over the fence and run into the sparring ring, grabbing up a wooden practice sword and brandish it over her head like a natural-born warrior. She promptly kicked the huge warrior who had been sparring with Fili, with all her might in the shin, pulling from him a string of curses the likes of which hadn’t been uttered in years, and certainly not in front of the royal dwarflings…ever.

 

The great warrior sat down in a huff, thick, tattooed arms seeking to soothe his shin, only to be pelted repeatedly by Gili with her sword. “You hurt Fiwi! You hurt my bwudda! You a bad man,” she screamed indignantly, placing herself firmly between her beloved brother and this giant who turned scarlet and looked as though he wished the earth would open up beneath him.

 

Behind her, Gili heard Fili and Kili erupt into bellows of laughter. She straightened and looked around, a murderous scowl still on her face, making sure Fili was indeed ok before tossing aside the sword and falling on the two princes, hugging them as hard as her little arms could manage. “Oh, Fiwi, are you reawy ok?”

 

“I am fine, little one. But I think you have frightened Mister Dwalin into anemia.” At that he and Kili again fell back laughing, being joined by everyone else in the ring who had witnessed the vengeance of little Gili.

 

Gili turned back to face Mister Dwalin, her ire a bit lessened by the assurance that Fili was indeed alright. “I sowwy, Missa Dwawin. But Fiwi is my bwudda…MINE. Nobody bedda hurt my bwudda,” Gili admonished.

 

“By my beard,” Dwalin swore as he raked a hand across his bald and tattooed head and looked to the trio before him. “I will never get between that cub and what she desires. Mahal himself would do well to avoid her wrath. She is fearless,” Dwalin exclaimed with unabashed admiration. “A true Durin.”


	5. Growing up.....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili learns what it means to grow up in dwarven society...and, quite frankly, it scares the hell out of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must apologize for the length of time between this chapter and the others. I had surgery and am just now getting back to writing, although, I must admit that it has given me a lot of time to come up with ideas of where this story is going. I have no thoughts of it ending anytime soon (unless y'all tell me to toss down my proverbial pen and give up writing altogether).
> 
> Thanks so much for the encouragement, the comments, the questions and the kudos thusfar. I am continuing to read other works by so many authors more worthy than myself (namely: Forianna, thorinsexenshield, moonflowers and dothraki_shieldmaiden just to name a few...thank you all for the spectacular stories that have inspired me).

The next twenty years seemed to fly by so swiftly. Thorin was occupied more and more of late with the care and safety of his people, Dis with the care of her home and children. They had grown up so fast and more often than not both Dis and Thorin found their hearts swelling with pride.

At thirty-five years of age now, Fili was a true Longbeard dwarf adolescent, all male, hale and hearty, stout, strong and fierce. His beard had begun to grow thick and golden and he had decided that his mustache would be allowed to grow in earnest as well, to be braided down each side of his mouth and tipped with silver beads, framing the orifice enticingly. His weapons were now extensions of his limbs and he could fight for hours it seemed before winding. 

At thirty-three, Kili had the grace of a mountain cat and the eyes of a hawk. He could split a feather with his arrow even as it blew upon the breeze. His hair was dark and as wild as he was, never holding a braid for long. In fact, it was lucky to be tamed in any way. His beard, however, refused to grow beyond a sparse smattering of stubble on his chin and jaw and Kili was more than devastated at this fact. His family assured him that he was just a late-bloomer but had no idea of the ridicule he faced from other young dwarves of his age whose beards promised to be the majestic flourish worthy of the Longbeard name. 

Gili had grown as well, though considerably smaller than her brothers with the lean grace and bearing of Kili rather than the stout broadness of Fili. She had grown from a beautiful child into a stunningly beautiful young dwarrowdam and, it seemed, that she was entirely unaware of this beauty. She thought herself very plain indeed, having neither the stout, strong frame of the typical female dwarf, nor any facial hair at all. Nevertheless, much to her detriment and dismay, as a royal dwarf she caught the eye of every even remotely male dwarf in Erebor. Her dark chestnut curls hung well below her hips now, framing her face with pale, sun-kissed highlights. Her skin was smooth and creamy with full and pouty red lips that curled easily into a smile and caused the deep sapphire blue of her eyes to twinkle, even as they creased at the corners. And still she worshipped her brothers and they her. 

Dis had long given up trying to force Gili into her own bed at night. Either Fili or Kili would sneak into Gili’s room to collect their sniffling sister and tuck her securely between them. Come morning, Dis would discover her sons’ espionage in the form of Gili sleeping soundly with her head on Fili’s chest and Kili thrown over her like a blanket with his arm around Fili’s middle. So she gave up the pretense of trying to force Gili to her own room and her sons gave up the subterfuge of going behind her back. They had moved Gili’s things into the larger bedroom and now at night the trio would kiss their mother and uncle before cuddling with each other and drifting off to sleep together as one.

“You know, brother,” Dis began cutting her eyes over to Thorin who was relaxing by the fire late into the night. “We really must do something about Gili’s sleeping arrangements. This cannot continue. What’s to happen when they come into adulthood?”

Thorin sighed, “I will speak to the boys but I have no wish to hurt the child. I am certain that I can impress upon Fili and Kili the necessity of protecting Gili’s virtue.” Dis cut her eyes to him once more at his words. Thorin squirmed at bit and added, “Well, at least Fili will understand. I’m sure he will keep Kili in line.”

Early the next morning, Thorin took Fili and Kili out to have ‘the talk’. Gili was finally and begrudgingly submitting to her mother in the kitchen forcing herself to pay attention as her mother attempted to school her in the fine art that was a proper dwarven breakfast. She “mmhmm’d” and “yes, ma’am’d” at the proper intervals, but her mind was on her brothers, as usual. Where were they this morning? They were gone when she awoke in their bed alone, all their weapons still on their racks in the bedroom. And they had not come to breakfast.

Dis glanced often at her daughter, not fooled even a little bit by Gili’s nods and mumbled assents upon questioning. So Dis sighed and took the frying pan off the stovetop, all attempts at the morning’s lesson over, and turned to face her daughter. “Gili, we must speak. Please sit down at the table.”

Gili gasped at the urgent tone her mother used only for the most important of discussions, usually with her uncle Thorin. “Yes, mother,” she replied and at once sat down, smoothing her skirts and staring at her hands folded properly in her lap.

“Gili, you must listen to me very carefully. I do not have this discussion with you lightly, nor do I have it upset you. It is merely time, probably long-passed due,” Dis began carefully. She loved her children more than her own life and wanted desperately to see them happy. She knew what she was about to say to her daughter would not be well-met. 

“My daughter, you are a young dwarrowdam now and there are things you must know…ways that you must conduct yourself, especially as a princess of Erebor,” Dis continued.

“Oh, mother, this again?” Gili said, rolling her eyes.

“Be silent!” Dis spat, with a bit more venom than she really meant and Gili gasped, her hand going to her throat out of reflex.

“Be silent,” Dis repeated, although this time with a very gentle tone. “Though you have not yet flowered, it is no longer fit and proper that you should sleep with your brothers. Dwarves the age of yourself and your brothers begin to notice other dwarves and have feelings that are new and different to them,” Dis said, getting up from the table and beginning to pace around the kitchen. “Do you understand, Gili? Do you have an idea of what I speak?”

“I…I think so mother,” Gili replied, her voice catching in her throat. All she could think of was that her mother was forcing her at last from her beloved brothers, her champions, her protectors. She would be alone, in the dark, and she couldn’t bear it. Her breath began to come faster and faster and she watched her mother pacing with large, fearful eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“Good,” Dis continued. “Good,” she said again, nodding her head. “Someday, you will be wed to a noble dwarf and will continue the line of Durin. You must be chaste and untouched for a suitable match to be made. Your brothers must aid in the protection of your virtue and it would be too difficult, too much of a temptation for them to do so with you lying in their bed night after night.”

“Do you mean, mother, that Fili and Kili might…” Gili couldn’t even finish that question, the thought was just too preposterous. “No, mother. They love me. They would not hurt me,” Gili stated with absolute certainty. “And what if I do not wish to marry a noble dwarf? I do not want to leave my home,” Gili whispered, not really certain if she had actually voiced the words.

“My sweet,” Dis said as she crossed the kitchen back to her daughter and cupped Gili’s face in her large hands. “Your brothers love you with all their hearts. Sometimes I think they love you too much for their own good, or yours. And they would never willingly hurt you, no. But dwarves are lusty creatures. And their will come a time when they will want you more than the air they breathe. They will do whatever they can to have you and you must be protected at all cost.” With that last statement Dis looked directly into her daughter’s eyes and she knew that Gili could see the truth of her words.

“Why mother?” Gili asked softly. “Why will they want me thus?”

“Dwarrowdams are precious and oh so rare among us, my daughter, as you well know, yes?” Dis asked, seeing Gili nod in return. “When a young dwarrowdam such as your yourself comes into her first flower and bleeds for the first time, there is a rush of scent that comes forth along with the bleed and drives unattached male dwarves mad with lust and the desire to breed. In the past, dwarrowdams were taken away by their family to be kept in secret and safety until after the first flower, or locked away deep within the flowering halls of the mountain and guarded by fully-bonded warriors.”

Gili’s eye grew wide. “Will it hurt mamma?” Gili asked, returning to the euphemism she used for her mother as a child. “When I bleed, will it hurt?” Every time she had ever scraped or cut herself accidently it had hurt when she bled.

“No, darling. There will be some discomfort, but the bleeding will not hurt,” Dis said, knowing there was no way that she could fully describe this first flowering to her daughter. It was something that had to be experienced for oneself, even as Dis cringed to remember her own first flowering and the bellows of agonizing lust she had heard from her own brothers, Thorin and Frerin.

“Please don’t have me locked away, mamma,” Gili begged. “Please,” she cried.

“Shhh, now.” Dis tried to soothe her frightened daughter. “Perhaps it will not be so bad for you as it was for me. I will speak to your uncle. He may insist upon your being sheltered in the flowering hall, but perhaps he may allow you to remain here and send Fili and Kili away for a while during your time. The first flowering is the worst. Dwarrowdams flower once a season, so roughly four times a year. Once a dwarrowdam is bonded to a male, it is only he that is affected by her scent. But until that bonding is completed, the dwarrowdam is not safe from the breeding lust of unbonded males.”

“I know I have given you a lot to think on, daughter. Go now and gather your things and return them to your own room. Afterwards, you may go and find your brothers. I’m sure Thorin is through with them by now,” Dis pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead and smoothed her soft curls, so unlike the frizzy, coarse curls of most dwarves.

“Yes, mamma,” Gili sniffled, hugging Dis in return before rising from the chair, head high, back ram-rod strait. She was a princess of Erebor, after all. She would not let her mother see her grief. She would not allow the world to know how her heart was breaking. Though she had never known him, she was her father’s daughter and a Durin of Erebor. She would bear her fear and heartache in silence.


	6. Growing closer...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FIli and Kili learn what is expected of proper adolescent dwarves with regard to the care and protection of their sister's virtue. It is a lesson they swear to take to their hearts...their broken hearts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn these characters and the story they are writing. I fully intended this chapter to be a fun-filled romp through our mischievous boys learning the birds and the bees from dear old Uncle Thorin (and making him suffer greatly for it). However, the boys had a mind of their own and took me down some of the darker metaphorical tunnels of Erebor, forcing me to write what THEY wanted to tell.
> 
> I would say it gets better, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and all roads lead to happy endings (yada, yada, yada), but honestly, at this point, I'm as clueless as the rest of you. I had several different ideas for how I wanted to develop this story and this is soooo not one of them. But now I'm kind of looking forward to seeing where this fork in the road leads to myself.
> 
> I really hope you're all enjoying. Thank so much for all the kudos, comments, bookmarks and encouragement. Y'all are fab!

Thorin had been dreading this day since his sister’s husband was killed in battle so long ago. He had been, since then, more father than uncle to his sister-sons and knew that it fell upon him to teach both Fili and Kili the finer points of growing up as proper dwarven princes. 

Warfare, both offensive and defensive, was second nature to him. Running a kingdom and having a care for his people, as easy and natural as breathing out and breathing in. Discussing the basic facts of life with the most mischievous dwarves in Erebor, not so much. If truth be known, he would have postponed this talk for several more years, as male dwarves generally did not reach prime adolescence before the age of forty to forty-five. However, dwarf females were a different story and tended to mature sooner than males at around age thirty-five. Thus necessitating the dreaded discussion at hand.

With Gili now thirty, the time had come to educate Fili and Kili on their responsibilities toward their sister. Little did he know what a proverbial hornets’ nest he was about to upset as he led the princes away from the royal quarters under the mountain and farther into the depths of Erebor.

Eventually, Thorin led the princes to the Flowering Hall, empty now as dwarrowdams were scarce and rarely were there more than one or two at any time in the halls at all. 

“Fili, Kili, we are now in one of the deepest and most sacred halls of Erebor. This place is called the Flowering Hall and it is where our females rest and are protected when they come into maturity. It is where your sister will come when it is her time,” Thorin spoke, trying hard to convey the importance of this conversation, yet feeling as though he was speaking from the bottom of a deep well. 

He relayed to the boys how Gili’s first flowering would likely progress and lust-driven state that all unbonded and unattached males would endure should they be caught around her. Although he himself had never actually experienced the event fully, he knew only too well what he and his brother Frerin had endured while their sister, Dis, was locked away during her first flowering.

Dis had moaned and begged and called and screamed for both him and Frerin, though they were not allowed into the Flowering Hall and the guards had had to physically restrain them in the corridor outside the hall. Thorin remembered beating his fists bloody into the stone walls after getting the barest small whiff of Dis’ flowering scent. Frerin had attacked and mauled one of the guards to get to Dis. They both had actually growled at their father, King Thrain, when he ordered them from the mountain and from their sister until her time was at an end. 

In the end, all three siblings had endured their own private hell separated as they were, and Thorin had no words to describe this to his sister-sons. He could only impart the importance of the protection of Gili’s virtue and the importance of the siblings’ nightly separation from this night forward.

Upon hearing that Gili would no longer be allowed to share their room, Fili and Kili both vehemently protested, swearing to their uncle that they would never hurt her and, in fact, were integral to her protection. “She cannot be alone, Uncle,” Fili said with utter determination. 

“She has not been without us since she was a babe,” Kili added. 

“I know you both have only the best intentions for your sister,” Thorin continued. “However, this is my final word on the matter. Gili will remain nightly in her own room until her first flowering has come and gone and that is final!”

Dejected and defeated the brothers nodded to their uncle and began their return to the royal quarters. Never had they been so silent. 

Kili’s head hung down, his dark, wild hair hiding his face from the world as his heart broke. For the first time, he realized the innocence of his carefree childhood passing from him. He loved his siblings more than his own life and now he finally understood that eventually he would be parted from them. It never even occurred to him that there would ever be anyone else for him, someone that would take him away from them. They were all in the world he felt that he could ever want.

As Kili’s shoulders shook in silent sobs, Fili reached out and pulled his brother into himself as they continued what seemed a funeral march in its pace. As the eldest, he had heard stories of what happened between adults. He knew about sex and love and until now, he never thought of his younger brother or sister as anything other than perpetual, forever children. Gili would always be his precious baby sister. Kili would always be his annoyingly adorable little brother. Although he knew at some point he would become King Under the Mountain, and would be required to sire Durin heirs, he had never really allowed himself to entertain the thought that they would ever be parted.

As Thorin left the brothers to return to the throne room, Fili pulled Kili aside into an alcove and folded him into an embrace. Kili could hide it no longer and sobbed openly in his brother’s arms. “Shhhh, brother,” Fili whispered as he gently rubbed Kili’s back, soothing him as he had so many times over the years. But this was no mere tummy ache or scrape Kili had gotten from falling down. This was a broken heart which Fili felt all too well within himself, and he allowed his own tears to fall onto Kili’s shoulder.

“I…I can’t, Fili. I can’t bear it,” Kili sobbed. “Gili will leave us and you will leave me. I will be alone and I can’t bear it!” Kili dug his fingers into his brother’s sides trying to draw him closer.

“Never, brother,” Fili said with the shock apparent on his face as he pulled back, grasped Kili’s face with both hands and forced Kili to look him in the eye. “Mayhap we must yet let our sister go on to another, but I will never leave you, ever! How could you imagine such? Have I not always been there for you…cared for you? I will ever be thus, my Kili.” 

Even as the words left his lips and entered his brother’s ears they both knew the truth of them. Kili was Fili’s and Fili was Kili’s, always had been. Those doe-brown eyes so soft and full of doubt, brimming with tears now, had only ever shined for Fili first, and then for Gili. The sky-blue eyes, so regal and loving gazing back would only ever shine for Kili and Gili. 

The soft kisses that now fell upon Kili’s eyes and the gentle licks of the tears from Kili’s cheeks solidified the words and both brothers smiled sweetly before leaning in to bind their pledges to each other.

Full, pouty strong lips of the golden prince met the soft, seeking ones of the dark prince, the kiss smoldering with longing, seeking passion just under the surface. One brother pressed in as the other retreated and then the other surged forward. 

Back and forth their lips danced as they pledged their unvoiced vow to each other, until at last the necessity of breath drove them apart. Kili fisted his brother’s tunic while Fili grasped Kili’s wild locks and drew their foreheads together. No words were necessary between them, for there was nothing that could be voiced that would be louder or more honest than what their eyes were speaking at that moment. And at that moment they both knew they had to find the only emptiness still left in their hearts, Gili.


	7. Torn Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The TALKS did not go as planned by either Thorin or Dis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive me for the tardiness of the update. A terrible bout with pneumonia has had me laid up for over a week. I'm not exactly thrilled with this update. These characters have proven to have a mind of their own and are insisting upon leading me down plot paths that I had not dared to venture before.
> 
> I envision Fili as being roughly the age of 17-18 year old human, Kili roughly 16 and Gili roughly 13-ish. While they all share a strong sibling bond, they are beginning to realize that there may be more to it than any of them care to admit to themselves just yet. It's very difficult for me to write "underage" relations, especially between siblings. However, that said, I do definitely feel that these characters are pretty much insisting that I do just that. BE WARNED.

Upon arriving back at the royal quarter of Erebor, the young princes somberly ventured, arm-in-arm, to their room. They sat quietly on their bed, not sure what to do next, thinking back over all their uncle has just told them. Fili, as the eldest knew better than to question his uncle’s words and deep down knew there was much truth to them. However, he also knew that his passionate, unthinking younger brother and sister would not understand and would, likely as not. feel both lost and betrayed by their mother and uncle and he couldn’t bear their pain. He loved them both so, he thought as he pressed a lingering kiss to Kili’s temple, thinking back to so many sleepless nights with them next to him. 

He had fought so hard as he held them both every night to remember that Kili and Gili were his siblings, and neither had yet reached the age of maturity. He remembered the small, quivering shudders that would run through his body as Gili curled into him night after night. He remembered her soft sighs as she would cradle her head on his chest, pulling Kili around behind her, Kili’s hand grabbing any part of his brother within his reach. Fili’s eyes closed with an ache as the remembrance of his body’s response night after night pressed into his mind. 

That part of him that betrayed his sweet siblings so often was growing almost daily, weighing heavily between his young thighs. He knew it was natural and as it should be, but that it responded to Kili and Gili, he could not fathom. Yes, he knew his uncle was right. Gili must leave his bed before it was too late. And Fili knew at some point he would have to let Kili go as well. The weight of this decision already heavy on his young shoulders as he sees his own emptiness reflected in Kili’s gaze.

Kili holds fast to Fili’s hand as they return to their room. He notices little changes here and there, the absence already of his sister, and his heart aches all the more. So long ago, when Gili was born and his place as the baby of the family was taken by another, he thought to hate this tiny, red, mewling creature. But ever-so-soon thereafter she had wormed her way into his heart, as she had everyone else. He felt strong in her presence. She constantly looked up to him, followed him around, as he followed Fili, and made him feel like a real dwarf, a true son of Durin, instead of the strange, tall, lanky dwarf he had come to be. 

Never had Gili made fun of him for choosing the bow as his weapon of choice. Never had she snickered at him and made jest of him that perhaps he was more elf than dwarf as so many others had. Kili knew in that moment as he felt her absence that he loved her as much as he loved Fili. The love was different and yet the same, and right or wrong, Kili wanted that love returned from both of his siblings.

Kili’s rational mind knew, as did Fili’s, that Gili would be just across the hall, not so far away. But something in the trio’s relationship had changed forever. No longer were they to be the carefree, sweet, loving trio of siblings that always had each other’s backs, that stood solidly three against the world. Mother and Uncle Thorin had cast a shadow over the love they shared and made them all question their bond as something that might just be, could it possibly be…wrong?

Not knowing that her brothers had returned, Gili walked back across the hall from the tiny room she hadn’t used since she was five years old, to retrieve the last of her things from her brothers’ room. As soon as she entered the only safety and security she had known for the last twenty-five years she stopped suddenly, seeing her brothers sitting on their bed facing her, their countenances every bit as miserable as she is sure hers is.

“Sannamad” (perfect sister), Fili and Kili whisper holding out their arms to Gili. She crossed the floor without hesitation, tears flowing freely now as she fell into her brothers’ embrace. “Don’t cry, sannamad,” Fili groans, pulling Gili tighter into him. “We’ll figure something out, I swear,” he promises, Kili nodding his assent, his own voice failing him in the wake of his sobs.

“Why Sannadad?” (perfect brother), Gili asks Fili. “Mamma says it’s not safe for me to be with you and Kili anymore at night, but I don’t believe it. I don’t understand.”

“Uncle Thorin said much the same to us,” Kili said, sniffling and wiping at his face, trying so hard to be strong for Gili. “You know that Fili and I would rather carve out our own hearts than ever hurt you, yes?”

“Of course,” Gili agrees. “What shall I do without you both to chase away the monsters of the night,” she smiles and blushes the most delicate shade of pink. It had long-since been a joke between them that she should be past the point of believing in night-monsters. And she knew she should. Just as she knew that secretly, her brothers found it endearing that she still needed them thus.

“Perhaps one of us could sleep on the floor outside Gili’s room each night. Maybe trade off,” Kili suggested, looking to Fili with wide questioning eyes.

“I could not ask either of you to do that. Besides, I do not think that uncle would allow it. It would not be princely,” Gili replied, spewing the word with venom, hating her station now more than ever.

Fili’s head snapped up and a smile lit up his face. “I have an idea,” he exclaimed. “We’ll leave our doors open at night. And we’ll move your bed so that you will be able to look across the hall and see Kili and me. We’ll also be able to hear you if you have a bad dream and we can wake you.”

Gili gazed at Fili as though he just hung the moon and stars. “Thank you, sannadad. Do you think they will allow it?”

“I don’t see why not. Now don’t cry. Both of you, go a wash your faces. Mother will be calling us for dinner soon,” Fili said softly caressing the cheeks of his beloved siblings. “I love you both, you know? You are both, mine.”

“Always,” Gili and Kili repeated looking first at each other and then at Fili. “Ours,” they replied in unison.


	8. Growing Wiser

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili overhears a very disturbing conversation and makes a crucial decision regarding her life in Erebor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed this offering thus far. You cannot know what your comments, queries and advice have meant to me. I have been writing since I was a child (more years than I care to admit), but I sort of lost my desire to write after ending an almost 20 year relationship with an rp "soulmate". I had hoped that I had not lost whatever it is the gods gifts to us for our imaginative musing.

That same evening as they made their way to the dinner table awaiting the arrival of their uncle, Gili sat between her beloved brothers, her eyes still red and swollen from crying despite the quick wash up as directed by Fili. There was no way she would be able to eat with her insides knotted with dread for the long night to come and her first time in memory to be alone. Fili and Kili spent that meal in silence as well, barely eating at all themselves, Fili's arm around Gili's waist, Kili's around her shoulders. Their staunch show of solidarity was unmissed by either Dis or Thorin as he walked into the kitchen.

Thorin ate in silence, hating himself for the hurt he had so obviously allowed to be inflicted upon his kin. Even Dis did not try to coax conversation from her children. She would not admit to Thorin as yet that she was having second thoughts over her actions. She had seen those looks of misery before from her own brothers so long ago. And it frightened her for what those looks could mean. Her eyes caught Thorin's across the table and when he raised his eyebrows to her in question she just shook her head almost imperceptibly and looked back down at her half-eaten plate.

"Mother, we are not hungry. May we be excused? We would like to spend some time together before bed," Fili spoke up, looking Dis in the eye with barely concealed contempt.

"Of…of course, my son," Dis replied, more than taken aback at the look she never thought to receive from her caring eldest son.

"Come Kili, Gili. We're going for a walk," Fili pulled his brother and sister along, pushing them in front of him and out the door. They headed for the tunnels that led to the large balcony above the front gates of Erebor.

"If we're going to the balcony, I will need a cloak. It's getting colder now and winter will be upon us soon," Gili sighed. She never liked winter. Her brothers would be gone more often now, hunting for any game that remained in the cold months. Gili knew she'd be relegated to her royal duties in the Great Hall and in helping those in need. "I'll be right back," she whispered as she stood up on tiptoe to press a sweet, small kiss to first Fili's lips and then to a blushing Kili's.

Gili returned to the royal quarter and slipped in unobserved to overhear a very heated discussion between her mother and uncle. She didn't stop at first, as discussions such as this between her mother and uncle happened often, and were more often than not very heated. She retrieved her winter hooded cloak and was on her way back out the front door when the muffled conversation caught her attention.

"Mayhap we made a mistake, brother," Dis' usually strong voice, high now almost frantic with worry. "Have you not seen the way they look to each other, almost as though they crave the presence of the others? I fear we may have done more harm than good. Remember, Fre…," Dis gasped at the murderous look on her brother's face.

"Say no more, sister," Thorin snapped, interrupting Dis. "What's done is done. You know as well as I the children's roles as royals and heirs of the line of Durin. Fili, as my heir and crown prince of Erebor, must begin courting soon. He must find a future mate, court her, marry and produce heirs of his own. Kili will be difficult, as always, but he too must make a prudent match from a high-borne family. Gili too will be wed when the time is right. I have chosen well for her. I could not part with her for any less than a prince in his own right. She will be wed to Dain's son, young Thorin as soon as practicable after she flowers and comes of age."

Gili gasped, her hand clutching her throat. She had never even dared to give a thought that she and her siblings might be destined to leave Erebor, that they might be separated and someday belong to another. It was not a subject they ever really discussed and Gili had assumed, as she was sure her brothers did, that they would stay together forever.

Gili couldn't imagine herself belonging to anyone else, save for Fili and Kili. Though it was not commonplace for siblings to wed in dwarf culture, it was not entirely frowned upon, especially in royal families. Preserving the royal bloodline was paramount in dwarven culture.

But young Thorin, son of Dain, was also a prince of the line of Durin. He was a proud dwarf, quite a bit older than Gili at 60 now, he was of age. Young Thorin was stout, strong and well-furred with a full beard and long, thick, wiry hair. He was a warrior already proven against both orcs and men. But he was hard and rarely, if ever smiled. He could not compare with her Fili, her golden prince, his cornflower blue eyes that twinkled and glowed when he gazed upon her. Nor could he compare with her Kili, her raven, so quick with the laugh that set her heart aflame.

If young Thorin was for Gili, then who would be the dwarrowdams to take her precious brothers from her forever? She hated those females already. Her blood fairly boiled with bloodlust so fierce she feared she would maim the first wench to lay eyes on her brothers, much less those who would try to lay claim to either of them. She had never felt such hatred and it frightened her.

She thought of all the nights lying between her brothers. She had seen them many times over the years unclothed as they had her. They had swam and bathed together countless times and she well-knew the differences between them. She also knew that on several nights, she had drawn many a plaintive groan and aching sigh from Fili, as that difference made itself well-known.

Gili found her brothers to be the most beautiful creatures that she had ever laid her eyes on, both as different from each other as night is from day. Fili, her bright, shining, strong brother, as wonderfully muscled as Kili was lithe and lean. Kili, so dark and beautiful was taller now even than Fili. They made her heart swell with longing and her body sing with a need she couldn't yet name. They were her princes. Hers! And she would never willingly belong to any other.

The only thought she could think at this moment was that she must leave, she must get away, while her life was still her own. But she couldn't leave without seeing her brothers one last time. She would go to them on the balcony and when they returned later that night to their rooms, she would pack and leave as soon as everyone was asleep.


	9. Growing Ever Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A door is opened that cannot be shut. And they knew in their hearts that they would never have it any other way.

In the meantime, Fili and Kili had made their way to the balcony and sat, shoulder to shoulder, to wait for Gili. They rested quietly, lost to their own thoughts, on a stone bench carved ages ago, overlooking the front gates. Down the mountain, in the valley below the lights of village of Dale were winking in the night. Fili gazed up at the full moon’s pale, cold light and shivered a bit as he watched his breath puff in the chill of the night air. He felt Kili snuggle in closer to his side, his brother’s disheveled yet silken hair tickling his neck as young prince rested his head on the elder’s shoulder.

Kili sighed and broke the silence. He never could seem to remain still or quiet for long. “Fili, do you think it’s possible to love two people the same, you know, at the same time…I mean, to love one person as much as you love another?” Kili asked a bit flustered as he lifted his head up to look into his brother’s eyes.

“I do, Kili, yes. I know that I love you and Gili both more than my own life. Sometimes it scares me the way I love and how much I love you both,” Fili answered, barely above a whisper. “Sometimes I think about what will happen when we all grow up, when I become king, and the thought of ever being without either of you takes hold of me and I scarce can breathe for the ache in my chest.”

Kili grasped Fili’s hand in both of his own and leaned into the older prince once more. “I don’t want to ever be without you Fili, or Gili. I want to be beside you both always,” Kili declared, slipping from the bench and crawling up to kneel between Fili’s legs. His hands clenched the soft-skinned material of Fili’s breeches as he looked up at his brother. The want, the need so evident on his young face that it made Fili gasp. 

“I know you must marry someday, Fili. You must not allow uncle to dictate to whom. You must marry our Gili, make her your queen and put lovely princes and princesses in her belly,” Kili rushed. “And when you do, please do not forget about me. Please, please brother, take me with you both. Don’t leave me behind or send me away to another. I would be consort to you both.” Kili recognized that he was rambling, but he also understood that if he did not say these things that weighed so heavily on his heart now, he might never have the chance again.

Fili could scarcely breathe, shaking his head quickly back and forth. How often had he thought those very thoughts? 

But Fili was a coward in his own mind. He could never bring himself to voice those thoughts to either of his siblings as Kili had just done to him…his beautiful, brave Kili. No wonder he and Gili loved their brother to distraction. He was so passionate, so open, so honest in his affections. 

“We mustn’t even think these thoughts, Kili,” Fili declared with welling tears that he refused to shed. “Uncle will never allow it. You know as well as I that he will insist that we must make good political matches, all three of us. Our duty, above all else, is to strengthen the kingdom,” Fili lamented, as Kili’s hands roamed ever higher up his thighs. Fili could feel himself hardening at the touch of his enchanting, dark brother, even as he castigated himself for the betrayal of his kin by his own body.

“If that is to be our lot, Fili,” Kili whispered in a voice beyond his years, “then love me now, sannadad (perfect brother). Love me and give me the part of you they can never take away from me.”

“Kili,” the golden prince panted as he cupped Kili’s face with his hands. “Gili, Gili will return shortly, Kili,” Fili stammered, grasping at whatever excuse he could find to protect Kili from himself, from the ache, from the desire within himself to push his brother to the cold, hard stones of the balcony floor and claim him for his own.

“I care not,” Kili said as he pushed Fili’s tunic up and kissed the hard, flat planes of elder’s stomach. “Let her come, brother. I would have you make love to her as well.”

“Kili, please, sannadad (perfect brother),” Fili groaned, the strain in his breeches becoming almost painful. “You are not yet of age. You cannot know of what you ask.”

“Oh but I do, my muhud (blessing). I have felt you in the night as you held us. And were Gili not ever between us, you would have felt me as well,” Kili whispered as he dragged his nose up the laces of Fili’s breeches. “I have touched you as you slept and then touched myself,” Kili continued, drawing a deep groan from the golden prince as the younger unlaced them with his teeth.

“Mahal, Kili, we mustn’t,” Fili breathed, his eyes widening at Kili’s admission. But he was soon throwing his head back as Kili released his length from the confines of his breeches. And even as the words left his lips, Fili was removing his brother’s tunic then dipping his head to kiss the younger deeply.

Kili’s eyes shown with love and lust as he glanced up at his brother. “Mahal, Fili. You are so beautiful, so long and thick,” he breathed as he one of his hands grasped Fili’s fully-erect member. “You have grown, sannadad (perfect brother),” Kili said with a smirk as his other hand reached up under Fili’s tunic, teasing across his chest and running through the thick curls thereon. 

Kili had heard of many different acts between lovers from various dwarves throughout the kingdom, their conquests often the topic of conversation at the tavern the boys visited. But to be able to experience these acts firsthand with Fili was a dream he had never thought to live out. If only Gili were there with them, the moment would be perfect.

“Bâhzundush (my raven) please,” Fili croaked out, looking down at the dark prince between his legs. He couldn’t allow this to happen. He was the eldest. It was his duty to protect his siblings, but, gods above and below he wanted this. So, even as he warred with himself, he shrugged out of his tunic. 

He wanted the young prince in that moment more than his next breath. And that next breath came in a the form of a sudden gasp as he felt Kili’s lips barely touch the tip of his manhood in a gentle, almost worshipful kiss, before his tongue snaked out to torment him further by pressing into the slit in the swollen head. “How did you, where did you…” Fili hissed, not even able to finish the thought as Kili sank down on his length, swallowing him completely before dragging him slowly back out only to swallow him down again.

Gili arrived on the balcony just in time to see Kili reducing Fili to a moaning mass by burnishing the older prince’s cock with his tongue. Fili had fallen back onto the stone bench, both his and Kili’s tunics forgotten in a pile on the ground. 

Gili’s breath came in short, quick gasps as a burning ache began to build low in her abdomen. Her eyes dilated with lust at the site before her and though the night air was sharp with cold, her skin was aflame with desire. 

She quickly loosened the laces of her corset leaving her gown to puddle at her feet. Her hands went of their own accord to her breasts, tweaking them gently and feeling the corresponding shock low on her body with every caress. She left her hooded cloak around her shoulders and her slippers on her feet as she tiptoed quietly across the balcony listening to the moans of her brothers.

Kili saw her first as his head bobbed languidly up and down on his brother. Locking wide and somewhat fearful eyes with his sister, he brought his mouth up and off his brother’s staff with a wet pop. Fili, whimpered at the loss of Kili’s warm mouth and the sudden cold on the heat of his length as it snapped up and onto his stomach. He looked up at Kili and followed the younger’s eyes to find Gili gazing longingly at them, her pupils blown with obvious desire, each breath sharp and short. He jumped up off the bench, grabbing for his breeches with a gasp as his hardness stood proudly out from his body. He tried to turn away from her quickly, his cheeks blazing, his heart pounding.

Gili reached for Fili, turning him to face her, throwing back her cloak to reveal her naked body, glorious to behold in the moonlight. Fili raked his gaze down her body, his eyes taking in her small, budding breasts crowned by hard, pink nipples. Her tiny waist flared into curving hips and flowed down into soft, creamy thighs. To Fili, she was perfection personified. 

Kili gasped at the resplendent sight before him, catching himself reaching out to touch the vision he was sure was a waking dream. She was stunningly beautiful. 

Both brothers noted how she had grown and matured seemingly behind their backs. How could they have slept, night after night, with this astounding, alluring creature in their arms and not realized the treasure they possessed. Her long, chestnut curls poured over her shoulders to caress her burgeoning breasts. Her soft, curvy body was unmarked alabaster in its flawlessness. And both brothers wept openly now with love for their sannamad (perfect sister).

Kili was the first to take her into his arms, kissing her deeply and sharing with her the taste of Fili still on his tongue. Gili’s tongue inched tentatively into Kili’s mouth to dual lightly with his own. She moaned into his mouth before he released her and passed her on to their golden brother. 

She pressed herself fully into Fili embrace, her yearning breasts soft against his hard bare chest. Fili felt his arms go around her, one hand reaching out to Kili, pulling him in behind her. Together they enclosed Gili between them as Fili leaned down to whisper, “Sannamad (perfect sister). You should not be here with us like this. But for all the gold in Erebor, I could not let you go now, even should you wish it.” 

Gili smiled back at him as she felt her body surrender to her brothers, so much so that she did not know where her body ended and her brothers’ bodies began. Both brothers were stiff and taut now, as hard against her as the mountain underneath them.

They both kissed her worshipped her body now, one on either side of her neck, biting and marking her as their own. Neither prince was able to control his desire. Fili grasped her small breast in his hand, flicking his tongue over the nipple, hardening it as he suckled. 

Kili ghosted his fingertips over her mound before he dropped to his knees behind her. He knelt, taking the cloak from her shoulders as he went and laying it out on the ground before returning to place kisses along her sides and down across each of her buttocks.

Gili ran her small hands down Fili’s chest and over the rigid muscles of his stomach before taking his hardness into her small hands. She did not really know what she should do with it but she tried to mimic Kili’s gentle stroking moves that she had first seen only moments ago. She marveled at the velvety softness of the member which was in stark contrast to the hardness underneath the skin. It caused Fili to groan and rut gently into her soft little hands.

Kili looked up and watched the beguiling exchange between his siblings before he slipped between his them to place his face between Gili’s thighs. He breathed on her gently, warmly, causing her to part her legs ever so slightly. The sight of her before him, shimmering and shiny with her womanly dewdrops drew a feral growl from deep within him. He rubbed his face into her downy dark curls and placed a not-so-chaste kiss to the smooth, nether lips beneath. The scent wafting up from between her thighs was heady and spicy, reminding Kili of the most delicious dessert imaginable that would forever be all the sustenance he would require. 

Gili’s breath caught in her throat once more and she cried out. The feeling of Kili’s tongue between her thighs was driving her mad and if Fili hadn’t been holding her, she was certain that her legs would not bear her own weight. She lifted her leg to allow Kili more access and Fili grasped it, pulling it higher to rest around his waist. Fili gazed down upon the worship of Gili by their brother. It was exquisite to behold, and though he could not understand how, it made him all the more rigid. 

When Kili came up for air, Fili led Gili gently to lie down upon her cloak. He took Kili’s chin in his hand, forcing the younger brother to look him in the eye. “We will not defile her, Kili. That is a line we will not cross this night. Our sannamad (perfect sister) is too precious and too young. Do you understand, brother?”

Kili nodded, praying there would be other nights when Fili would be more willing. “Yes, Fili,” he acquiesced quietly.

As Gili lay listening to her brothers, the ache in her most tender region remained unsated and she began to whimper as they spoke quietly above her. She reached out to Fili, begging with her eyes for a release she had no idea that she coveted.

Fili turned back to Gili as she lay upon the cloak, the night air chilling her in contrast to the fire that burned within her. The sight before him nearly had him spilling his release all over her. 

Gili’s delicate mound was bathed and glimmering with her essence, her nether lips swollen with need as her knees parted before him. Fili could not resist tasting her as his brother had, wondering if she would be as sweet there as her mouth had been. When he knelt between her legs and his tongue lapped at her nectar, Fili groaned at the taste of her. She was sweeter than the clover honey from the beekeepers of Dale, and Fili’s tongue delved deeper within her, seeking out more and more.

Fili felt Kili crawl behind him, his brother’s hands warm as they caressed him, his brother’s body a furnace as it cradled him. Kili reached around to grasp his brother’s turgid staff once again and Fili twitched and furrowed in Kili’s grasp. The wetness of Fili’s pre-release dribbled out of him and Kili used the moisture to caress his brother further. 

Kili stroked Fili’s length from base to tip and back again and then gently cupped Fili’s heavy sack. The weighty feel of the orbs encased within beckoned Kili down to take each one into his mouth. He suckled gently and rolled each one with his tongue before releasing them to return to Fili’s opening. Kili kissed and nibbled around the breach, blowing gently on the ring of muscle tucked between the globes of Fili’s tight, generous arse. Fili keened high and whimpered despite himslef as he felt Kili’s tongue probe him gently, even as his tongue probed Gili and she writhed beneath him.

“More Kili, please, more,” Fili gasped as Kili pressed his tongue deeper within the golden prince. “OH MAHAL, KILI, YES, DEEPER!” he begged as he pressed back into the dark prince’s mouth.

Gili didn’t know what her brothers were doing just now, and quite frankly at that moment she could not have cared less. Fili was drawing from her depths the most melancholic sighs and moans as she wound her fingers into his hair pulling him closer and closer. She could feel the most shocking sensations deep within her as he buried his tongue in her slit. The waves of pleasure rose higher and higher, but they remained just out of her grasp. Never cresting, she whimpered over and over, “Oh brother, Fili, my Fili.” 

Kili knew what he wanted, what he had heard about and found himself craving, but he wasn’t sure that Fili would allow it. He waited until Fili rose slightly from Gili to reposition himself, then he dipped his fingers into the cleft of his sister’s wetness, pressing his fingers into her and drawing a groan from the little princess. He obtained a generous amount of liquid from her and used it to coat his hardness thoroughly. The rest he used to rim Fili’s arse before dipping first one finger and then two fingers inside the slickness where his tongue had just been.

Fili threw back his head and cried out at the feel of Kili’s fingers inside him. He pressed back against the fullness he felt, guiding his brother’s digits ever deeper into his unyielding tunnel. He dipped his head back down to Gili’s dripping slit and lapped at her once again, finding and drawing her precious pearl into his mouth to suckle like a babe on a teat. 

Kili withdrew his fingers with a whimper from Fili before grasping his own dripping wet rod and guiding it into Fili ever so slowly. Kili had not yet the girth of his brother, but he surpassed Fili slightly in length and caused the golden prince to moan deeply into Gili as he felt the sharp, sudden pop of Kili’s bulging head enter him. He tensed at first and Kili immediately stopped moving. Fili then forced himself to relax and release his muscles sucking at Kili’s cock and drawing him in slowly, inch by agonizingly wonderful inch.

Kili groaned unintelligible words of love and lust as he pumped himself slowly in and out of his brother. He watched as Fili tongued his sister frantically now and pushed back against him and meeting him thrust for thrust. 

Gili could feel the wave of desire building and building within herself, driving her higher and higher, as Fili mouthed her with abandon. She saw her dark, beautiful brother above her and behind the golden god nestled between her thighs. She could not believe that Fili had submitted himself to Kili in such a manner, but she found it very appealing, especially as he licked and sucked at her in time to Kili’s thrusts. They could not know what toll this joining would take on them in the future. But right now, in this moment, no future existed for any of them. They just were. They existed purely for each other alone. The rest of the world be damned.

Fili felt his own release mounting quickly as Kili pumped within him, pressing against something deep inside of him that made him want to cry out for it felt so good. Kili knew he couldn’t last much longer. Fili was so tight around him, so hot. It was like being clenched within a smoldering, velvet vice. Knowing he would not last long, he reached around beneath Fili once again to grasp his hardness and began tugging in time with his own pumping.

Gili reached the crest of the wave of desire and cried out in her release spilling her juices into Fili’s mouth. He was surprised by the intensity of her release, not expecting the rush of liquid that filled his mouth. But he greedily slurped and drank every sweet drop he could, swallowing down his sister’s nectar and begging for more as he felt Kili come undone inside him. 

Fili, ever the ardent big brother, only then allowed his own release to spill into Kili’s hand once he was certain that his precious siblings were sated. Kili brought Fili’s offering to his lips and tasted the elder’s salty bequest, his eyes closing in delight. Not to be outdone, Gili drew the younger prince down to her and demanded that he share his treat with her. Together they licked the sticky white pearls from Kili’s hand while the golden prince looked on amazed by the shameless sight of his new-found lovers.

The trio gasped and panted together as they came down from their blissful high and fell side by side, gathering each other close. They knew they couldn’t remain here long in the cold night air, but they were loath to be parted to be relegated to their separate beds. They kissed and touched each other tenderly, marveling at the treasure each had found in the other. There was nothing more precious to be found beneath the mountain, nor in the whole of Middle Earth. 

They were bound now by more than family, more than blood, more than love. They were bound by flesh, by craving, by longing and desire. Though they were young in years, they each know that they had walked through a door that could never again be closed. And each knew that they would willingly walk through that open door again and again, should fate allow.

Gili gazed upon her brothers with a newly-discovered adoration and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they would be carved upon her heart as long as she drew breath. She smiled at them both as they held her as though they were afraid she was glass to shatter beneath them. “I love you both so very deeply, my sannadads (perfect brothers). I will never love anyone as I love you both,” Gili whispered. “Thank you for sharing this night with me.”

Fili and Kili couldn’t yet bring themselves to speak anything other than a quiet, “Âzyungel (love of all loves),” embracing their baby sister one last time before drawing on their clothes. They kissed each other once more deeply, each savoring the other and knowing that this balcony would always be their special place. They then walked quietly together back to the royal quarter hand-in-hand.

When they arrived and entered their home, Dis and Thorin were sitting by the fire, trying not to seem as though they had been waiting up for the trio. Not a word was spoken as the young lovers passed by their mother and uncle. No glance, even, was spared them by the trio as they still had eyes only for each other. 

Gili stopped then and turned to her brothers, pointedly ignoring her mother and uncle as they looked on with obvious questions in their eyes. She lifted herself up onto her tiptoes to grasp each of her brothers around the neck, holding them close. She pressed a lingering kiss to the corners of their mouths, secretly snaking out her tongue for one last lick. Each brother closed his eyes to the blissful touch of her lips and returned her kiss as wantonly as they dared. 

“Goodnight, my sannadads (perfect brothers),” Gili breathed, her mother’s eyes widening behind her, even as her uncle’s narrowed. She could feel the grief of ultimate separation overwhelm her as she walked away from them to her room and closed the door. She knew she would not be able to leave her door open tonight as Fili had suggested. She knew that upon seeing her âzyungals (lovers) lying together without her, her plan would shatter and she had to have the strength to do this night what she knew she must. Though she was very much afraid, she was a dwarrowdam of the line of Durin. And by Aule she swore this night, her life would be her own.


	10. Separation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili runs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter broke my heart.

Gili waited in her tiny room until late into the night. She had heard her brothers and mother go to bed hours before and her Uncle Thorin shortly thereafter. Well after midnight now, she crawled from her bed, dressed warmly and found a blank piece of parchment in her desk. She penned her goodbye to her brothers, explaining briefly the conversation she had overheard earlier that night between her mother and uncle. She declared her love for them both unreservedly and begged their forgiveness, telling them that she simply could not face a life married off to a dwarf she could never love. 

Gili quickly packed a bag for herself, including one of Kili’s tunics and breeches which she would have to roll the sleeves and legs up, and an extra day dress and corset for herself. Extra small-clothes, her brush and money pouch completed her pack. 

She took the letter without hesitation and crossed over to her brothers’ room. She gazed down at their sleeping bodies entwined around each other and agonized at how much she longed to be there between them once again. She noticed that they slept fitfully, one turning, the other reaching out for his brother and vice versa. 

She slipped the note under Fili’s pillow, knowing that he would find it eventually. She touched his golden hair lovingly one last time before kissing her fingertips and placing them softly against Kili’s temple. She crossed back over the room to the weapon rack and took one of Fili’s daggers, sheathing it in the belt at her waist. She slung the bag over her shoulder and left the royal quarter without looking back.

Gili made her way through the corridors and up to the secondary hidden entrance to Erebor which was known only to the royal family and their personal guard. She pulled up the hood to her thick cloak and began the slow descent of the Lonely Mountain to the village of Dale below.

Upon reaching the stables in Dale, she knew the stablehand was likely long-since bedded down for the night. So she slipped silently inside, saddled a pony quietly and then led it out into the night. She walked the pony slowly, keeping to the backstreets until she came to the alleyway behind the village inn. She had not had a chance to get any food before leaving so she slipped silently into the back kitchen and pilfered a loaf of bread, a hunk of cheese and two wineskins from the counter, leaving as quietly as she came.

Gili gave one last glance toward the Lonely Mountain, the only home she had ever known, as she rode away from Dale. The moonlight shown on the great gates of Erebor and Gili fancied she saw her brothers above on the balcony, on their balcony, waiting for their sister as they had earlier. It was silly, she knew. She was too far away now to even make out the balcony, much less her brothers were they truly there instead of tucked into their warm bed, but she would see them in her memory every time she closed her eyes.

“Come on now, girl,” Gili whispered as she mounted and kicked the pony into a trot. She would find somewhere safe to pass the night and then try to think of somewhere in Middle Earth that she could venture where her uncle’s anger would not penetrate and his arm would not reach. Where that might be, she could not tell but she whispered a prayer to Mahal and ventured forth into the unknown.

Gili found a small copse of trees between Dale and Laketown the night she fled Erebor, leaving her heart behind with her beloved brothers. She hobbled her pony, taking the blanket from beneath the saddle, laying down upon it, resting her head upon the saddle and curling into her cloak. There would be no warm fire this night and no food as she knew she must ration her small stash sparingly. When she reached Laketown, she would buy more food and necessities with some of her pocket money. She knew that Laketown would never be far enough from her uncle’s reach, so she would not tarry long there.

Gili’s mind looked back to earlier in the night on the balcony over the front gates of Erebor. She and her brothers had fully realized their true feelings for each other and spent a few sweet moments exploring their love. Her body still sung with the sensations her brothers had given her. Her lips still tingled from their kisses. Their scent still clung to her skin and her hair. She knew that she would regret when she finally had to bathe that heady fragrance from her body.

Sleep was not easy coming to Gili that night. She had never been on her own, never alone and the night sounds of the wilds were entirely foreign to her. No one would understand, unless they had been born to it, how utterly quiet the mountain was. 

Her pony snickered lowly, munching on the sparse grasses of late fall. The wind blew gently across the leaves of the bushes wherein she hid. And her small shoulders shook with the silent sobs of fear and loneliness. 

Slowly, but surely, sleep finally took hold of Gili. For a few blissful hours she had a reprieve from missing her brothers. But as the sun began lacing the sky above her with streaks of pink and gold she awoke to a pounding in her head and a rumbling in her stomach. Both of those sensations were infinitely preferable to the ache in her heart as she thought of how the streaks of gold in the sky couldn’t hold a candle to the gold of Fili’s hair and the pinks paled next to the endearing blush on Kili’s cheek as she tickled him mercilessly during their play-fights.

Gili took a bite of bread and cheese and a long tug on the wineskin before standing and stretching her cold, stiff limbs. She performed her morning ablutions and set about saddling her pony and breaking camp. By the time full-light was upon her she was well on her way to Laketown.


	11. Grief...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fili and Kili discover that Gili is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how much angst I can take. I apologize in advance.

After a fitful night of sleep beside his brother, Fili woke very early and rose from the bed. He tucked the sleeping robes back in around Kili who was notorious for kicking the covers off of himself in the night. He touched his brother’s sable hair lovingly remembering the feel of Kili deep within him last night and found his staff lengthening and filling at the memory. He strode to the washroom to get things well in hand before Kili woke up. 

He could still smell his sister on his hands and in his hair. He could still taste her as his tongue snaked out to lick his mustache. He took one of the mustache braids in his mouth and sucked it wishing that it was truly Gili on his tongue. He tasted Gili’s juices that had coated the hair of his mustache and beard last night. 

He pressed his hardness into his stomach and rubbed the velvety head back and forth before grasping firmly and tugging hard. He made short work of his release with the help of her scent and the memory of their shared love-making, groaning as he spilled into a cloth meant for drying after a bath.

Fili washed quickly, hoping to sneak across the hall to steal a kiss, or twelve, from his sister before their mother and uncle woke. He padded across his room and slipped into his smallclothes before quietly opening his door and exiting, closing it gently behind him. Their home was still silent and he smiled to himself as he opened Gili’s bedroom door, entering her room and closing the door softly behind him.

He cross the few steps in the dark of Gili’s room and knelt by her bed. There was no candle lit and no window in her room so he couldn’t see her upon the bed. “Sannamad? Are you yet awake, darling sister?” he asked quietly, waiting for her response. When none came, he reached out across her small bed to draw her into his arms. They were fairly aching to hold her once again. But the bed was empty…cold.

Fili jumped up and fumbled with a candle on the nightstand. Lighting it he searched the room which he could now see was as empty as the bed. He took the candle and ran back across the hall throwing open the door to the room he shared with Kili. He put the candle down and went to shake his brother awake. “Kili, sannadad, wake up!” he said as loudly as he dared, shaking Kili again for he was notoriously difficult to awaken. “Kili, get up! Gili is not in her room.”

Gili’s name reached into Kili’s sleep-soaked brain, teasing him awake with the lingering fringe of a dream of last night still beckoning him back to sleep. He smiled up at Fili through heavily-lidded eyes. Raising up on elbow, he tried to press a kiss to Fili’s lips. He startled at Fili’s shaking and when Fili pulled away from him before allowing the kiss, Kili feared last night has only been a dream. 

“Kili! For Mahal’s sake, Gili is missing!” Fili cried again, panic causing his voice to rise. At those words, coupled with the look of stark terror on his elder brother’s face Kili was brought wide awake and was up on the side of the bed immediately. He grabbed Fili’s shoulders, “Are you sure, brother?” all thoughts of his brother as his lover dissipating now in the wake of his sister’s absence.

“I am certain. I just came from her room and her bed is cold. She has not been there for many hours. The house is quiet. Mother and Thorin are not up yet. Get dressed. We’re going to find her. Go first to the balcony and then meet me in the forge. You know how she it likes it there in the warmth.” Fili did not dare say the words, but he feared that the trio’s coupling had been too much for his little sister. Perhaps she now regretted their union and had left to get away from himself and Kili. 

Kili threw back the covers and rolled off the other side of the bed, knocking bed clothes with him as he went. He grabbed his clothes and slid into them as Fili was doing the same. 

Fili sat on his side of the bed to hurriedly pull on his boots. As he did so he reached down to pick up the pillow that Kili had knocked to the floor and place it back upon the bed. It was then that he noticed a folded piece of parchment which had fallen with the pillow. He picked it up see his and Kili’s names on the outside in Gili’s handwriting. He swallowed the lump in his throat as his hand shook. “K…Kili,” he breathed.

Kili was at his brother’s side in an instant sitting down by him on the bed and reaching out to hold him when he saw the letter from Gili. They sat there, side-by-side, Kili reading over Fili’s shoulder, a pit forming in their stomachs as they read………

 

‘My darling brothers, my loves, my life. I have no words to express my regret, though not at our expression of love last night…never that my Ones. Oh, Mahal, just to be able to call you both that at last and then to leave you. How will I live? I beg you both to read on and try to understand, sannadads.

When I returned last night to fetch my cloak, I overheard mother and uncle discussing our futures. Uncle would see me bound to young Thorin, son of Dain, and the two of you married well and away from me. How can I go unto another when my heart has already been divided between you both? I fear they would not understand, that they would not allow our union. And so I must go, now. To remain is a torture I cannot endure. 

Please do not forget the sister that will love you both until she breathes her last. I pray to Aule that you both remain together. Do not allow uncle to separate you.

Goodbye, my princes, my ghiluz and lomil (day and night). I am ever your sannamad, Gili.’

 

They crushed the parchment between them, all thoughts of the sleeping house lost to them in their anguish. In unison then, Fili and Kili roared with a grief they never knew possible, great excruciating wails, over and over until their voices all but ceased.


	12. Growing to Learn the Truth Will Out...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin and Dis learn the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I actually wrote the letter from Gili in this chapter first, before ever even beginning the story. I guess you could say that I had to write the story around it. I hope I've done that well. The letter I guess was the musing that inspired this whole saga. 
> 
> Thanks so much to everyone for the PM's. I love your questions and comments and, in fact, the PM's and reviews are what has kept me writing this story at all. If not for y'all, I'd have probably scrapped it ages ago.

Thorin lurched to his feet, ripped from sleep by the screams of Fili and Kili. He met Dis in the hall wielding his great, war axe, naked as the day he came into the world, both scrubbing their eyes and looking to one another in horror. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF MAHAL'S RED WHORE IS THAT NOISE?" he screamed at Dis, her face the very picture of trepidation.

They ran down the hall and burst through the door of Fili and Kili's room to see the young princes tearing at their hair and wailing as though the very fires of the mountain were torching their souls. Fili saw them enter first and his eyes blackened with rage as they locked on his uncle. "YOU! How dare you show yourself in this room!" he spat at Thorin as Dis drew back from her son with dread. "How dare you profess to care for us and call yourself our uncle! She is gone. She's gone and it's all because of YOU!" He rose to stand mere inches from Thorin his hands clenched in fists, Kili pressed tightly to his brother's back, arms around his waist, head on is shoulder.

"Fili, what do you mean speaking to your uncle thusly?" Dis questioned, her voice quavering, before Fili turned his hate-filled gaze on her as well.

Kili sobbed openly as he looked to his mother, "Gili…it's Gili, mother. She's gone. She's left us."

"NO!" Dis cried. "What have you two done to her?"

"Us?" Fili questioned with ire. "Mayhap you should be directing your question to yourself and your king here," He spat, pointedly distancing himself as Thorin's subject and heir.

"You will watch your tone, you dissembling cub!" Thorin growled through clenched teeth. He still had no idea what in the name of Aule was going on here but he would have answers now, or he would have someone's head.

"My sons, where is your sister? What has happened? Please tell me what is going on." Dis begged, feeling herself slipping into cold shock.

Kili handed his mother the letter from Gili and once again wrapped Fili in his embrace. He sought out and held Fili's hands and pressed them into his brother's stomach, dropping small, comforting kisses onto Fili's shoulder. The gesture was not lost on Thorin but he swallowed his shock as best he could. He would get to the bottom of that little development as well. When Dis cried out, he took the letter from her and scanned it quickly, his eyes widening as he read. When he finished he looked to the princes before him and spoke softly now, "What happened last night? I would know it all, now…this minute."

Fili turned to cradle his brother, keeping himself between Kili and Thorin, ever the dark prince's protector. He met Thorin's eyes once more and raised his chin defiantly. "We are bonded," he spoke, the pride evident in his voice. Dis and Thorin gasped, simultaneously whispering "no".

Dis hit her knees as the weight of the admission from her sons made her legs unable to support her. Thorin, it seemed, aged before their eyes as he stumbled backwards and fell into a chair nearby. He knew the trio had been inseparable since, well, forever. But he had convinced himself that it was only sibling love that kept them close. "It cannot be," he hissed. "Such was not meant for you…not for my heirs." Thorin held his face in his hands, the war axe long-since dropped and forgotten on the floor, as Dis wept openly.

Kili, ever the more openly affectionate brother, kissed Fili's forehead, his eyes, his cheeks, trying desperately to soothe his brother's frazzled nerves. "Please mother, do not weep. Mahal himself could not have fashioned for me more perfect partners." Fili nodded at his brother's words, so often had he thought them himself.

"Kili and I will leave at sunup to find Gili and bring her back home," Fili vowed. "We will not rest until she is back by our sides." He looked to his uncle again, "And by our sides is where she will stay!"

"I will form a search party, myself, immediately," Thorin stated, matter-of-factly, slipping effortlessly into his role as ruler of Erebor.

"No, Thorin…uncle," Fili said, vaguely contrite, although still angry beyond thought at his uncle. "Kili and I must do this. She is our One."

Thorin nodded reluctantly. He knew all too well what that last statement meant in the language of dwarves. And it proved to him that his nephews were serious in their devotion to their sister, that this was not merely a physical attraction to be tasted and then set aside.

Dwarves were capable of loving, truly loving only once. To claim someone as your One was to pledge to them your very soul. For all time and beyond you would be bonded to that dwarf. And when that dwarf passed unto death, they would await you in the Halls of Waiting, where Mahal himself would reunite your souls for eternity. But, until you passed yourself, you would tarry in this life, lost, missing your One as you faded.

Some dwarves were so frightened of the potential loss, that they would never allow themselves the joy of a One. Others were not fortunate enough to ever even meet their One. Mahal was not always kind in that respect, as he had never been with Thorin.

If Thorin had not witnessed for himself that a bonding between three could happen, he would not have believed it to be true. But long ago, his and Dis' beloved brother Frerin had professed his love for them both as his One. Dis had been so young that she didn't really know then what being someone's One entailed. Thorin, however, knew all too well. It was the first time he had known true fear and he had spent the rest of his days regretting his decision and hating himself for it.

Frerin. Just the thought of his brother even now brought an ache to Thorin's chest so deep he felt he would surely bleed from the wound of it. Frerin was so beautiful. He was Thorin's younger brother, and older than Dis. He was golden of hair, just like Fili and indeed Fili was much of the same temperament as Frerin, quiet, studious, considerate, and he vehemently defended those he loved. He had a jovial side that was so like Kili. He was quick to laugh and as a child was Thorin's partner in many a mischievous prank.

Thorin had loved Frerin as he still loved Dis, with all his heart. But their father, Thrain had been King Under the Mountain and he had forbid a union between the three, believing it to not be in the best interests of the kingdom. Thorin was to marry well and produce heirs. Frerin was promised to a dwarf lord with whom Thrain needed an alliance, and Dis, though at the time too young to be bartered politically, would surely be a prize worth much to whomever Thrain deemed worthy.

Frerin had been devastated when their father adamantly refused his suit for the hand of Thorin and Dis. He had finished dinner that night, and left their home after everyone was fast asleep. He had gone to the balcony overlooking the front gates of the mountain alone and from there had leapt to his death.

Thorin had never recovered from the loss. He defied his father and refused to marry. Thrain faded himself with shame for his actions within the year, leaving Erebor to Thorin's reign. Most believed him to be taken by gold-sickness. But Thorin knew the truth of his father's misery. He would never forgive himself the death of his youngest son.

Dis' grief was immeasurable as well, but she was young and with time allowed herself to wed Fili and Kili's father. She had never completed the bond with himself and Frerin as her Ones, but neither had she bonded with her husband in that way. She loved him, of course, but Thorin always thought her fear of losing him held her back. In the end, she lost him too early anyway and had never known the passion of giving herself to a One.

Thorin drug himself from his memories and stood to return to his room and dress. "See me before you leave, boys," he said to Fili and Kili. "Dis, sister, with me." He helped her to her feet and she leaned heavily upon him, her heart cold and feeling as though it would never be warmed again. She clung to her brother and he rubbed circles over her back as they walked back down the hall to his room. "We will find her," he murmured to her over and over, the words becoming a mantra he forced himself to believe as much as her.

Fili and Kili finished dressing, adrenaline gone now, a great sad tiredness seeping into their very core. They packed the necessities and strapped on all their various weapons. Fili crossed his twin swords over his back and sheathed the multitude of daggers in his bracers and boots. Kili hung his sword and a dagger from his waist, his bow and quiver of arrows on his back. They dressed warmly and glanced about the room to make sure they had everything they needed.

As Thorin dressed, Dis went to the kitchen and packed enough food for the boys for several days. If it took longer than that they could hunt for more. She included wineskins which, when emptied, could easily be refilled with water when they stopped. The boys found her leaning over the washing basin, praying quietly for their safety and the swift return of her daughter. They hugged her gently and kissed her cheeks, reassuring her that they would bring Gili back to her, and she nodded her belief of their words to them.

Thorin, now dressed as they were and armed to the teeth as they were, entered the kitchen to the surprised looks of all three of his kin. With as much humility as he could muster as a king, he looked Fili directly in the eye and asked, "I would request that I be allowed to accompany you both. I could not remain and do nothing, waiting for the retrieval of our light."

Fili and Kili looked at each other momentarily before Kili nodded and Fili replied, "As you wish, uncle. But know this, we will not return without her."

Thorin nodded and handed them both a bag of gold coins. "You may both well need this for supplies and payment for information. I carry another as well. I would gladly give all the treasure under this mountain to undo this pain. We have much to discuss when Gili is returned safely, but first she must be returned." He turned to Dis, taking her in his arms and kissing her deeply on the lips, deeper than he had ever dared to show in front of his heirs. "Sannamad, I will have Dwalin stay and watch over you. And Balin will be but a stone's throw away. Do not grieve, beloved. We will find her. I swear to you that we will find her and bring her home."


	13. Growing scared...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili is threatened in the night...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so very much to everyone who is loving this story. Thank you for your ideas, your suggestions and your criticism. I sincerely hope to live up to all the expectation everyone has voiced. I am truly LOVING writing this story and I will hate to see it come to an end. At this point, I would truly like to know your thoughts as the reader as to what you would like to see for this story. Would you like a happy ending? Would you like more angst, more feels? What are your thoughts on the character development?
> 
> I really wanted to develop these characters in the way I would have liked them to progress, while staying as true to cannon as possible. Most people would think that Thorin would be the easiest to write. I mean he's basically a grouchy jerk, but I have found he is so much more than that. I hope to develop him more in other stories, but for now, I am enjoying trying to bring out a bit of a vulnerable side to him.
> 
> I will say that at this point, chapter 13, that I do have chapters 14 and 15 completed (they are short and will probably be posted together) and they are in post production. I am currently writing chapter 16. I could probably drag this story out forever, but we'll see where it goes. Let me hear from y'all. Thanks again!

Before Gili was half-way to Laketown, her pony threw a shoe and stumbled. She fell from the saddle and sat on the cold, hard ground looking up at the poor beast. Luckily, the animal was on its feet and looked no worse for wear. She wished she could say the same for herself. Her forehead was cut and bleeding profusely. Her hands scraped from trying to block her fall. But the worst was that her left leg was twisted behind her at an odd angle.

She shook the fuzziness from her head slowly and reached down to tear away a piece of her petticoat. She used it to bind the wound on her forehead and hoped that the bleeding would stop soon. She cried out as she tried to straighten her leg. The horse must have fallen on it when it stumbled, for her ankle was already swelling and she knew that if it wasn't broken, it was thoroughly bruised. How on Middle-earth would she make it all the remainder of the way to Laketown, or even farther, without a pony to ride in her condition?

********************************************************************************************************************************************************

At first light, Thorin, Fili and Kili left Erebor. Dwalin had balked at being left behind, stating emphatically that his place, as Captain of Thorin's guard was as the side of his king, not babysitting the king's sister. Dwalin had never been known for his tact, but upon hearing the cause for the trip, nodded, and as meekly as his massive dwarf body could, made his way in to keep watch over his Princess.

Upon reaching the village of Dale a short ways from the Lonely Mountain, they split up to see if they could get a lead on which way Gili might have gone, whether she was on foot and whether anyone had seen or talked to her. Thorin headed to the inn, Kili to the tavern and Fili to the stable. They had said that they would meet back at the village square within the hour.

Fili came running back to the square and spotted his kin waiting by the fountain, watering their ponies. "There is a pony missing from the stable, a black mare so the stablehand said. She must have stolen it in the night."

"The owner of the inn reported some food and wine missing as well," Thorin added. "At lease she may have something with which to tied her over. Have either of you any idea which way she might have headed?"

The brothers looked at each other before Fili muttered, "Well, I'm quite sure she would not have headed for the Iron Hills." The Iron Hills being the realm of Dain, whose son to whom Gili was promised was definitely the least likely place to which she would have headed. Thorin nodded, a bit shamefully.

Kili spoke up then, "Well, I know where I'd go if I was running from you, uncle. I'd go to the elves, to the Woodland Realm."

Thorin's eyes widened and then narrowed at the thought of his niece among elves. He knew Kili was right, but it made him sick to his stomach to think of it nonetheless.

"Very well," Thorin said. "We will head to Laketown first and change ponies there. We will have to ride hard to catch up to her and will need fresh mounts to enter the Mirkwood. We should get started. If we push the ponies to their limits, we should arrive in Esgaroth (Laketown) by late day after tomorrow."

********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Gili was fortunate to see a small pond in a field across the road. She pulled herself up with the help of the saddle stirrup. She hopped next to the pony until they reached the pond and she fell again close to the edge. She removed the saddle gingerly allowing it and her meager supplies to fall to the ground. She wasn't able to hobble the pony first, however, and when the saddle hit the ground next to it, the pony bolted and shot back down the road from whence it came.

"Perfect," Gili sobbed. She allowed herself a few moments grief before taking an assessment of her situation. There was no way she would be able to gather much wood, but there was a bit scattered within crawling distance of the pond. She gathered what she could and piled it next to the pond. She was hungry, tired, hurt, sad, angry…the emotions rolled off of Gili like rain from the roofs of the dwellings in Dale, leaving her exhausted.

She laid down, pillowing her head on the saddle and without intending to, fell asleep. Rising what appeared to be several hours later, her empty stomach rumbled. The sun was below the horizon already, leaving a soft glow in the western sky. Gili worked feverishly to get a fire going before full dark. She laid back down, feeling incredibly sorry for herself and for the first time since leaving Erebor, she felt that she would die here, alone, upon the road.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Thorin and the boys pushed their ponies hard, as they had intended upon leaving Dale. They traveled the main road to Esgaroth (Laketown), stopping only when they had to rest the ponies. It was at one of these times that they saw a black pony trotting toward them on the road. The pony had no saddle, no blanket upon it, but it was wearing a halter, its reigns were dragging upon the ground.

Kili grabbed the pony's reigns as it trotted close to him. Fili gave the pony the once-over feeling its withers and down its legs. One by one, Fili raised the pony's hooves, "Looks like it's thrown a shoe. It has to be the one that Gili took from Dale," he said with a groan.

"Mahal, I hope Gili's not hurt." Kili said as he looked at his brother, dread growing in the pit of his stomach.

They mounted up onto their ponies once more, keeping watch to either side of the road for any sign of where the pony might have come. Thorin was still not certain that he could countenance the deception of his heirs in their bonding and it shamed him once more to think of the discussion he would be forced to have with them upon Gili's return, 'If she returned,' he thought to himself.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Gili moved closer to the fire, realizing too late that her meager supply of wood could never last her through the night. At least there was a full moon overhead and stars beyond counting in the sky above. However the light they shed only seemed to deepen the shadows of the night.

She fancied that she saw glowing eyes in the underbrush on the far side of the tiny pond. Unease was growing within her as the glowing seemed to move now. Surely it was a trick of the breeze blowing through the scrub. But there was no breeze now and the glowing was still moving…toward her now…and it was GROWLING!


	14. Growing lusty...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin realizes that something is happening, and he may not be good with it at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must apologize for the last chapter's anxiety-ridden ending. I have received more "hate" mail for that chapter than any other thus far. All I can say is 'I'm evil.' Writing this story has been like playing Sims for me. It has so given me a God complex...lol. Seriously though, I am having a blast.
> 
> Never fear, more updates are forth-coming as chapters 15 and 16 are written already and are in post-production. Remember, reviews are good for the soul!

Fili, Kili and Thorin rode hard, the sun down now and the last light of evening was fading in the distance. They knew that soon the only light they would have to travel by would be the light of the full moon overhead. The princes were desperate to find their One, they hearts cried out for her frantically with an almost physical pull. They had never experienced such terror as they felt now when thoughts of Gili's possible loss hit them.

They searched, having had to slow their ponies now. They called out for Gili, their voices wavering in the darkness. It was all they do, for they truly had no idea if Gili had even come this way. There was just something that was pulling them in this direction that they simply could not ignore.

Thorin was using all his strength to hold together his frazzled nerves. He was king, after all and he'd had a century or better to perfect his royal control. But it was where this child of his heart was concerned that his control faltered and crumbled to dust.

His precious niece, the closet person he would ever have to a daughter, the child he had physically pushed from his sister's womb into this world, the creature for whom he had blown his breath into to give her life, was alone. She was probably injured, in the darkness where he knew she was most afraid. And he was powerless to find her.

What if this was all just a fool's chase? Thorin had no idea of which direction the child had gone. He was second-guessing their decision to come this way. He was second-guessing his decision to allow his nephews to search alone. He should have called upon every dwarf in the kingdom to search for Gili.

He cursed his weakness of pride. He cursed himself for wanting to keep the relationship of his heirs secret. He cursed himself for the greedy jealously that burned through him when he thought of the bond they shared, the very bond he had desired for himself, so long ago, that was denied him. If his gentle Gili perished, he knew that he would fade, as his father Thrain had faded after Frerin's death. He knew that he would never forgive himself if she came to harm.

"GILI…Gili, please, beloved where are you," Fili called out time and again, Kili echoing his words when Fili's own voice failed at last. There was no response save the drone of insects and the chill of the crisp, fall air.

Many times they ventured off the road searching for any sign that Gili may have passed that way. It was slowing their progress considerably but they were afraid that they might overlook some miniscule clue that would lead them to their One.

They found a small copse of bushes and trees off to the left side of the road where it looked as though a pony may have been hobbled and pawed at the ground. There was no sign of a fire having been laid, but a few crumbs of bread were visible in the short grass, having not yet been eaten by late season birds or taken by squirrels. Could it be that Gili had stopped here, rested here?

"She was here," Kili said emphatically. "I know it to be true. Our darling One was here."

"Are you certain, Kili? How can you know this?" Thorin questioned, disbelievingly. He could not understand how Kili could be so certain that Gili had been there when he himself saw nothing to indicate that she had. There was barely enough sign to read to tell him that even a pony had been there, much less his little slip of a niece.

Kili had dismounted along with his brother. He was kneeling on the ground and, much to Thorin's disgust, was crawling around in the grass. He placed his face down upon the very patch of ground whereupon Gili had lain just hours ago. "Can you not feel it, brother? Her scent…can you smell it upon the soil? She was here. She lay here," he whispered, the grief and longing so unmistakably manifest in his voice.

Fili felt it too now, just beneath the surface of his skin, coming from deep within his chest. It was like a string attached to his heart, pulling him to this place and yet pushing him onward. She had been here, lingered here, probably for the night. Of that much he was certain, yet he did not know how he knew that to be true.

"He is right, uncle. Our One was here not so long ago. I can feel it, right here," he clasped his hand over his heart and squeezed as if to crush the ache which was building there.

It was then that Thorin caught the scent. It was very slight almost insignificant and easily missed, but it hit him like a hammer in the gut. It was spicy, loamy and sweet all at the same time and it danced through his nose to linger on his tongue. Thorin licked his lips, savoring the taste. It was elusive and tantalizing still, but he knew that it would grow more prevalent. He knew that scent as he knew his own name. He dreaded that scent as he dreaded not finding she to whom it belonged. And above all, he wanted that scent more than his next breath. He wanted it within him, upon him, enveloping him like a womb. "Mahal," he groaned. "Please, Maker, not now."

Fili and Kili looked at their uncle, but sparing no thought as to why he was so upset. They inhaled the fragrance deeply once more, closing their eyes, savoring the bouquet that they couldn't name. They closed the distance between them, hands grasping, fingers entwining as they just stood and breathed.

Kili, who had ever deferred to his older brother in all things, rubbed his nose against Fili's neck in a submissive manner, while Fili grabbed his brother's hair and yanked back his brother's head viciously. Fili purred deep within his throat as he bit into the younger's neck drawing blood. He sucked a vicious bruise into the dark prince's neck over the bite, then slid his tongue along Kili's collar bone. Kili whimpered with need, thrusting his pelvis into and against his brother's.

Thorin couldn't believe what he was witnessing. It was as if he no longer existed for his nephews. He couldn't believe that his nephews were behaving this way, rutting against each other, pawing at each other, beginning to undress each…'OH HELL NO, this must end NOW!' Thorin thought.

He dismounted his pony and made his way to Fili and Kili. "ENOUGH," he raged, pulling them apart with a yank of his hands upon their shoulders. He wasn't certain what he was more upset by, his nephews' behavior, or his envy of it.

They whipped around to face him, all recognition of him virtually gone. Their eyes were utterly blown, the colored irises consumed by their black upon black pupils. As one, they snarled viciously at him, barring and snapping their teeth, resonant, savage sounds issuing forth from within them. 'She was theirs,' they thought.

But Thorin knew what this was and took no offense as he raised his hands in submission to his nephews. "It is the scent, my heirs," he said softly, trying to reach the thinking, rational part that he knew was somewhere still inside them. "You must fight it, lads. You MUST…FIGHT…IT." Even Thorin was having trouble keeping a level head and he had none of the bond the princes had with Gili. He shook his head slightly and tried to reason with Fili and Kili once more. "Your sister is still out there, alone. We must find her. Please, lads, clear your minds and place your thoughts on Gili. She needs you."

The brothers continued to stand there, every unclothed part of their bodies seeking out and touching the others. That touch was comfort and solace to their souls. That touch was home to them. But they knew there was something missing from the touch. As right as it was, it was so utterly lacking and wrong, for they were without their One, their Gili.

Fili was first to shake off the spell of Gili's scent that remained where they stood. Kili was still whimpering with need, not able to reach Gili and not able to get close enough to the only other person with whom he could find relief. Fili took his brother's shoulders in his hands and shook him gently. "Kili, snap out of it. Wake up and open your eyes. Look at me. We must come back to reality and find our One!"

Kili moaned, slightly, looking at Fili as though drunk. Fili knew just how he was feeling, giddy, hard as the granite of the mountains in his breeches, aching with need and desire. Fili felt it all from his brother and from himself. "Please uncle, forgive us. I know not what has come over us," he spoke with guilt and shame.

"Fili, Kili, you must fight these urges with all of your strength. They will only grow stronger with time. But I think we may be able to use your bond, your connection with Gili to help find her. I didn't believe it was true in the beginning. I didn't want to think that you both had actually completed the bonding, that you had lain with your sister," Thorin said, trying in vain to hide the timbre of disgust in his voice.

Before he could finish, Fili interrupted, "But we have not defiled her in any way, uncle. We have loved her, yes, given her pleasure and taken pleasure from her as well, but her virtue remains intact, uncle. I swear it upon the tombs of our forefathers."

Thorin nodded, "I believe you, Fili, for I know you. But be that as it may, the bond is there. It is strong, and even if not complete, I believe it is enough to help us find her. And find her we must, soon. She is alone. She is unprotected. And very soon, she will be flowering for the first time."

Fili and Kili gasped simultaneously. It was too soon. She was far too young still, barely an adolescent in the eyes of their kin. How was it possible? All the questions and feelings rushed forth at once. They hoped that there would soon be answers, but right now all they cared about was finding their One. And now, for the first time, they had hope that came with the certainty of their bond with her. They trusted their hearts to lead them to Gili. They trusted their love to find her.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili discovers what the night holds.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this time y'all (sorry). It's been crazy for me today. I have big plans for these guys. Let's just hope they let me carry them out. I have received some awesome reviews and great ideas from y'all and I can't thank y'all enough. Please keep reading and reviewing.

Gili's breath left her lungs in a rush as she realized what it was she was seeing. She grabbed a small branch from the edge of the dying fire and swung it in the direction of the growling, her other hand clutching the dagger she had taken from Fili before she fled Erebor.

"Mahal," she whispered in a silent plea to her maker for help, for Gili saw, slinking slowly toward her, great jaws rimmed with razor-sharp teeth. She glimpsed a giant, gaping maw dripping with copious ropes of fetid saliva, and then the entirety of the enormous white beast itself. It was as if the site before her had been ripped from her most fearsome nightmare. It was a Gundabad Warg.

Atop the creature sat a brutal-looking great white orc, covered in long jagged scars most likely from countless battles. His hand clutching the reigns of the warg was bigger than Gili's head and tipped with fearsome, jagged claws. Upon the stump where his other hand should have been was fashioned a weapon that resembled a huge forked blade. He spoke to Gili in a snarling, rumbling voice. She could not understand his black speech so she just stared at him, catatonic with fear.

From the shadows came more orcs, at least seven, if not more. They were smaller than the Gundabad leader on the white warg, but no less frightening. He must be their leader, some part of Gili's brain registered, though she still had not found her voice.

The pale orc was speaking again now, his words directed to the smallest orc of the party, who shambled up to his leader, bowing low, almost prostrate before him. "My master bids me tell you that you are his now and that you will come with us," the halting words sounded so different upon his lips as he spoke in the common tongue. Gili had no idea how an orc would know the common tongue, but she shook her head back and forth quickly.

"No, never," she replied, for she had heard all her life what orcs did with their captives. She knew that if they took her that she would pray for death long before it ever came.

The leader spoke again, obviously issuing a command to his underlings. They grabbed Gili and yanked her up, not knowing or caring about her injured foot. She cried out in pain as they forced her up. The orcs dragged her to their leader and he shouted again.

They hefted her easily and threw her up and onto the orc leader's lap. She lay across his lap on her belly, facing the arm with the forked weapon. Behind her she felt her dress being lifted, her smallclothes were torn from her and the orc's hand caressed her rounded and upthrust buttocks, sinking his claws into the meat of her. His large fingers gripped her crack and slid down between her thighs to sink into her nether folds below.

It was then that Gili screamed, a loud, long, piercing, blood-curdling scream that would not stop until the darkness closed in around her in blessed relief. And the orc bellowed in triumph.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili accepts defeat at the hands of Azog...yeah, NOT.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for sticking with me. Real life has insinuated itself on me in the worst ways this past week or so. After a stomach flu making its way through my entire household, my son graduating from high school and our hot water heater going out the morning of his graduation (yay, cold showers for everyone) I'm about ready to pull my hair out. But, alas, now that my vente, breve lattes are back on the menu, I feel the strength to carry on.
> 
> For those who sent me 'hate mail' for all that I'm putting little Gili through, well, get a helmet is the only advice I can give. It will always get darker before the dawn (grin). I'm evil and I accept that.

When Gili awoke she had no idea how far or how long she had traveled face down across the orc leader's lap. Her body was in agony from the rolling, bouncing movement of the sprinting warg beneath her. The scent coming off the beast was enough to make even her empty stomach rebel and she tried desperately to keep from spewing bile on her captor, for fear of his retribution.

The sky was beginning to lighten when they reached the orc camp. Gili could see a dozen or more orcs still within the camp that came out to meet their leader and his hunting party. He tossed her to the ground unceremoniously and jumped down beside her. He grabbed her by the hair, dragged her across the camp and tossed her into a tent. She was filthy, frightened and forlorn. Not one speck of hope remained within her that she would ever see her beloved brothers again.

The pale orc entered the tent, the little orc trailing closely behind him. Upon the leader's face was a scowl so fierce it stole Gili's breath. She knew that it had been an orc attack on a hunting trip with her uncle that had caused her father's death the day before she was born. Never could she have imagined a similar fate would befall her. "Father," she whispered to herself, "give me the strength and the courage to die with honor as you did. Let me not die screaming in terror."

The pale orc watched the little dwarf girl's lips move wordlessly. He wondered what she was saying, but knew that even the orc servant would not be able to hear her either. He sniffed the air for the delicious scent of fear which he knew should be rolling off his captive profusely. What he scented, however, was something which overpowered the fear. It was delicate, yet profound, mysterious yet elucidated. It was not a scent he had ever known before and yet it called to him.

He looked at her questioningly. He knew she could not understand him so he wasted no words upon her. He merely looked at her. She was sitting on her bottom, her hands behind her, her one good leg out in front of her. He moved toward her then, slowly, like a warg stalking its prey. Gili moved with him, retreating where he advanced, circling away from him as he circled toward her.

The closer he got to her, the stronger the scent assaulted him. He now recognized that it was coming from her. He sniffed again. It was not a nice odor, he thought. It was not the satisfying odor of bile and decay from the ruin and desolation of war. It was certainly not the aroma of burned flesh and rotted meat from the homes of men destroyed by him and left to bake in the summer sun. But it was an odor he could not ignore and he did not know why.

He growled at the little orc now who translated his words to Gili. "My master bids me tell you that I am Weznuk, servant of the great Defiler," the little orc began.

Gili's mind had barely registered his words when, "Azog," left her in a terrified whisper, her eyes blown wide with fear as his head whipped toward her upon hearing his name on her lips. She had long known this name, as long as her own years, for it was Azog the Defiler who had murdered her great-grandfather Thror, then King Under the Mountain at the battle of Azanulbizar.

She should have recognized him, for her own uncle had severed the beast's arm in the same battle. Her uncle had thought the Defiler long dead, so fierce were his wounds. But such was not to be and now Gili was captive of the same Defiler whose renown was so ingrained into dwarfish mythos that even now little dwarflings would hide in terror in the night, lest Azog come to claim them in their sleep.

Fear welled up within Gili once again, the tang of it metallic on her tongue. She began to perspire and breathe in shallow gulps faster and faster. The closer the pale orc came to her the more she panicked. And it was during this panic that her prayer was answered, in a way. She discovered her voice and remembered who and what she was. She was a daughter of kings, a princess of Erebor, future queen of all the dwarves. And if she was to meet her death here, at the hands of an orc pack, she would meet that death with her head held high, her eyes defiant and her self-respect intact.

"Weznuk," she drew herself up from her prone position on the floor to a seated position, doing her best to ignore the pale orc and addressing the little orc, still hovering near the opening of the tent. "Please inform your master that I appreciate his rescue in my time of need. I was injured in a fall from my pony and he would have my gratitude if I might have some food and drink."

Weznuk's eye's widened at her audacity. He shook his head back and forth, refusing to pass along her words to the pale orc. Azog roared at him, "What did the little cunt say?"

"Master, she said to tell you that she appreciates your rescue, that she was injured in a fall from her pony and she wants food and drink," Weznuk spoke, cowering and awaiting the blow he feared would come from Azog.

However, Azog just stood staring from Weznuk to Gili and back again, disbelievingly. No one had ever dared speak in his presence, other than to beg for their miserable lives. Certainly, they had not thanked him for stealing them away. And most assuredly they had never asked for anything, save release from pain and torment. He roared with laughter, loud and long. He doubled over, slapping his one hand on his knee. He laughed until tears streamed from his eyes and still he laughed.

Weznuk was astonished to say the least. He had never heard such a sound issue forth from the pale orc. He had never seen even the semblance of a smile on his face. And he had certainly never seen any sign of wetness come from Azog's eyes, not even when he lost his hand in battle. Then there had only been vile curses and screams.

Gili tried her best to keep her countenance emotionless. She gave every appearance of being aloof, and yet her insides churned as she wondered what to do next. She looked to Weznuk, "I am happy to be of such amusement to your master, however, I would repeat my request for food and drink…perhaps a bath?"

Azog continued to laugh as Weznuk repeated the request with the added 'bath'. But to Gili's astonishment, Azog nodded to Weznuk, grunted to him and left the tent, still chuckling. Weznuk stared at her with wide dubious eyes and told her that he would return with food and drink for her momentarily, to which Gili then promptly passed out cold.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin and the boys are hot on Gili's trail, yet always it seems, one step behind her. Will they reach her in time? Or will The Defiler live up to his name?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel terrible for not updating this story sooner. Everyone has been so wonderful with the kudos and comments. Comments, btw are verbal candy for authors, so don't be shy, even if what you have to say is negative. Real life has asserted itself with a vengeance lately and to paraphrase Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, "If this is well, life isn't worth living." Well, if I didn't have my music and writing, creative outlets in general, my life wouldn't be worth living, so it seems. So thank you all for indulging me and giving me so many reasons to keep going.

Thorin and the boys left the place where Gili had spent her first night. They traveled on in the direction of Laketown and within a few hours, Fili and Kili felt a definite 'tug' on their chests. The sensation was still very new, though not quite as foreign as before, but they were learning to listen with their hearts, knowing that this may truly be the only way to find their sister.

They slowed their ponies to a walk. Fili dismounted first. "Light," he said. "Uncle, we need more than just moonlight."

Thorin dismounted and he and Kili searched the area near the road for dead limbs that they might use for torches. Fili found some scrub and lit a small fire next to the road. They tied bundles of dead grasses to the ends of the branches and lit them, using them as torches to search the road for any sign of Gili.

Kili was first to spot dark, wet patches on the packed earth of the road. Thorin knelt and pressed his fingers to the nearly-dried wetness. When he lifted his hand to the light of the torches, the wetness was dark red and they knew it to be blood. They could not tell what had caused the blood to be there but they frantically searched, finding a bit of a trail of blood that led off the road.

They followed the trail a short distance and noticed a small pond up ahead. Next to the pond there was a small shallow fire pit that had been dug there, but the fire was long-since out. Fili put his hands to the ashes. "Cold," he said sorrowfully. "She was here, uncle, probably just hours ago. I feel it. I know it to be true."

Kili kicked a rock in angrily into the pond. "Are we to ever remain one step behind her?" he cried out, his frustration growing with each passing moment. Fili came from behind Kili to wrap his arms about the younger prince, his chin on Kili's shoulder. He whispered soft words of comfort to the younger and they took what comfort they could from each other in the wake of their sister's absence.

Thorin watched the pair for a moment, still not entirely allowing himself to believe that the sweet young dwarves he had raised with his sister were now lovers. He made his way past his nephews catching sight of something which made his stomach lurch and his heart almost stop. "Mahal!" he cursed. The princes' heads snapped up and their eyes shot to their uncle. They rushed to his side fingers still laced together as if they were afraid to break that touch.

"What is it?" Fili demanded, his other hand reaching out for Kili, afraid of what their uncle had seen and needing more of the touch of his other One.

Thorin squeezed his eyes closed, pinching with his fingers the bridge of his nose in desperation. He dreaded having to be the one to tell his nephews what he feared has become of their sister. He closed the distance between them, standing facing them, one hand reaching to grasp Fili's shoulder the other grasping Kili's. "Akhûnîth," (young ones) Thorin began. They knew if Thorin had resorted to Khudzul, their ancient language, what he had to say was important and potentially bad news. "I believe she has been abducted."

Kili's eyes sought out his brother even as he shook his head 'no', his heart unwilling to accept what he was being told and yet breaking nonetheless. Fili brought his brother's hand to his own chest, clutching it close to his breaking heart. "How…how do you know this, uncle?" Fili asked.

Thorin pointed to the tracks in the soft earth beside the pond. The tracks had come from the opposite side of the pond and had rounded the small body of water, ending at this spot beside the ashes of the firepit. A small partially burned stick had seemingly been dropped close by and the only word that Thorin could utter was the one word Fili and Kili would have given their lives to never have to hear in conjunction with their One. "Orcs," Thorin growled. The only part he couldn't figure out, were the other tracks that led away from the pond, as though someone was tracking the orcs.


	18. Chapter 18 (Because yeah, I've gotten lazy with naming chapters...)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili is still at the mercy of Azog the Defiler, but unbeknownst to her, someone (or something) has been tracking her. Will she be saved? Or will she find herself in worse shape than in Azog's hands? (Is there a fate worse than Azog the Defiler?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I seem to thank everyone with each chapter posting, but I truly do want to try to impart what your readership and comments have meant to me. Constructive criticism is always appreciated and really helps me to grow as a writer.
> 
> I have been involved in a fantastic RP session (almost daily) and have also been writing other stories which will be uploaded when they come out of beta. But I didn't want to forget about our little dwarf lass and leave her forever in the hands of the Defiler. So, without further ado, I give you Chapter 18 of Mine...Ours, enjoy.

While Thorin, Fili and Kili were not close enough to hear Gili’s scream when the pale orc took her, none of them could have imagined that someone else did hear. Quite a few someones, actually, for they had been traveling to Erebor to meet with the King Under the Mountain and were planning to stop for the night by the pond when the cry rang out in the darkness. They arrived just in time to see the orcs riding away with a tiny captive.

Unfortunately, their tired mounts must be watered and rested before they could go in search of the orc pack. It was several minutes, probably at least a quarter of an hour, before they remounted and took off after the filth. They would not leave an unprotected female to a fate worse than death. And they would spare no orc in the process.

* * * * *

Gili thanked Weznuk for the food and drink he brought to her. She took the bucket of water he brought to her, obviously for her bath, and tore another piece from her petticoat to use as a washcloth. She bit into the unidentifiable meat and chewed while washing her hands and face, trying to clean her lacerated forehead as best she could. There was no way that she was going to undress in front of the little orc so she washed to the best of her ability fully clothed, the bath really secondary in her mind, for she had not eaten in what seemed like days.

Weznuk had also brought her several strips of animal hide to bind her foot and ankle. When he explained what they were for, she gave him a genuine smile and thanked him again. His eyes widened and his brow furrowed. No creature had ever been kind to him, not even the creature that birthed him. His life had been one of curses, beatings and survival, one round of misery after another. Yet he stayed by the entrance of the tent, not daring to get closer to this little dwarf for fear that she would turn on him as well. 

He was truly a pitiable creature, malformed and hunched over. His skin was leathery and a reddish ruddy brown in color. His hair, what there was left of it was wiry and snow white. His nose was sharp, his eyes small and beady and his ears very long and pointy, gathered and seemingly pinned behind his head by some sort of bone shaped into a rod. He was truly the ugliest thing that Gili had ever seen, but she did not fear him as she did Azog.

And no sooner had the pale orc come to her mind than he strode into the tent, tall and powerful. He knocked Weznuk to the side growling at him and looking at Gili as though she was a tasty morsel and he was starving. He even licked his lips as his eyes raked her body. This gaze made Gili way more than uncomfortable, for he looked at her as though he knew what she looked like unclothed. She could tell that he wanted her. 

Gili scooted back as far as she could against the wall of the tent, but Azog sauntered up to her and picked her up like a doll, holding her with his one good hand by the front of her corset. She did not struggle, believing that to be exactly what he wanted and so he shook her as though to prove the point. She forced herself to look him directly in his cold, pale face, noting that even his eyes were ghostly pale. As a Gundabad orc, Azog was many feet taller than herself, probably nearing seven feet in height or more. He was also massively muscled, his arms and shoulders rippling and bare, his stomach knotted with rolling flat muscles and his thighs like the trunks of great trees. 

When he got no rise out of her, he seemed to lose interest for the moment. She was really too small to be of much use to him. He knew if he were to take her as he would take most females, he would likely kill her before her screams could bring him to the pinnacle of his pleasure. The dripping hard member beneath his loincloth was the almost the size of her leg. He would surely rip her to shreds, bleeding her to death before he found his release, although the thought of her lifeblood bathing his staff and stones encased in the heavily-hanging sac below caused him to grow heavy and needy as he held her. 

He knew he would kill her eventually, but he would try to find some use for her before then. For now, he palmed himself in front of her, rutting into his hand and taking in the quickened breath puffing between her rosy lips. He knew that she could see the great swell of him and, although he would satisfy his needs deep within the hole of one of the worthless minion of which he was overrun, it would be her fear that he would taste on his tongue as he came.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili remains a captive of Azog the Defiler and remembers the love she left behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_Recently, a question was asked to me about this story, "how Thorin could love his siblings and understand the pain of being forcefully separated yet still do that to his niece and nephews". My reply was that in my headcanon, I really saw Thorin as being afraid that the same thing (or something worse that what happened to Frerin) would happen to his niece and nephews. The trio is really young as dwarves go, so Thorin doesn't really even tend to see them as 'sexual' creatures or dwarves that should even know their hearts as far as love is concerned. Unfortunately, in my story the old adage holds true that 'those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it'._ **
> 
> **_I really do appreciate all questions and reviews and I'm so glad that so far everyone has seemed to really enjoy the story. Please hang in there with me. I do want a happy ending for the trio, but I'm making no promises yet._ **

* * *

 

 

Gili watched with great heaving silent sobs as the pale orc left the tent. She had thought that he meant to take her there upon the tent floor. She had seen the great swelling of his staff, the enormous length of it, pushing his loincloth out to hang like a flag, swaying and proud, and thought that it would surely be the death of her should he ever choose to force himself upon her.

Throughout Gili's latest encounter with the pale orc, Weznuk had never left her alone in the tent. If anything, he had edged closer to Gili, watching her closely and cowering when Azog lifted and shook her suddenly. Though he feared the Defiler more than death, he couldn't help but admire the spunk of the little dwarf female as she continued to defy the great pale orc. In truth, Weznuk had never seen any creature have such audacity and live this long.

When Azog tossed her aside and left to seek his pleasures elsewhere. and Gili was once again upon the floor of the tent, she was no longer hungry and a bath was seemingly the last thing she craved. She looked solemnly at the ugly little orc, whom she noted had moved closer to her, and her bottom lip quivered despite her desire to show no weakness to her captors. Weznuk's eyes widened as he gazed at her. The little dwarf had surprised him yet again, for since she had first shown the Defiler such bravery, he had never expected her to give in to fear. She was, indeed, the bravest creature he had ever seen.

Weznuk cast his eyes down and growled softly to Gili, "Do not, little one. Do not let him see fear in your eyes or in your bearing. He desires your tears and your cries most of all."

Gili nodded her head and wiped furiously at her face. "I should never have left the mountain," she said, more to herself than to the little orc. There were tears of desperation just beneath the surface, refusing to spill from her eyes. 'Oh my beautiful, loving brothers,' Gili thought as she wrapped her little arms around herself. 'How I ache for the comfort of your arms,' she sighed, realizing that she was right all along. There were still monsters in the world and she was right to need the safety that Fili and Kili brought to her each night. If she ever made it back to them, she would bear any teasing that she must to have the security her princes brought to her each night.

Gili rubbed aimlessly at her throbbing ankle and thought back to when she and her brothers were young, how they had loved her and kept her safe. She remembered a morning that Fili had left for his apprenticeship in the great forges of Erebor. He couldn't have been more than 20, barely old enough to stand the heat of the flames let alone even lift a smithing hammer. But as Thorin's heir, he was expected to apprentice there. Though his young dwarven body had not yet developed the strength he would need for his apprenticeship, there was so much more to learn before he actually began forging the vast metals that the dwarves were known for, that it was not unheard of for males of his age to begin their training.

Fili had told her later that he had awoken early that morning, gazed fondly over at his siblings as they lay tangled around each other. He had said that the sight made his heart ache to leave them, so sweetly were they sleeping. Gili, he had said, was lying on her back sucking her thumb as usual and had her free hand curled into Kili's silky hair as his head lay pillowed on her chest.

He had dressed quietly, stoked the fire in the stove for their mother, and returned to place a gentle kiss on the foreheads of his siblings before slipping out of the royal quarter to face the long walk to the forges. He had wanted to arrive early, as any royal heir should, to impress the forge master and his king. Gili smiled despite herself as she thought back to how Fili had never seemed young to her, even though he was only five years her senior. He always seemed so much older, so protective of his siblings, and so heart-wrenchingly beautiful in his fierce love for them.

Kili and Gili had awakened that morning alone in their bed, missing Fili, for it was always Fili who woke them with kisses. Gili had whimpered a bit and curled into Kili for comfort. They rose from the bed, each missing Fili telling them to 'get a move on or I'll eat all your breakfasts'. They both knew full-well that he would go hungry to feed them if the need ever arose.

Kili had risen to the occasion of big-brother, kissing Gili's nose affectionately as Fili would have done. He cuddled her close and whispered all the sweet words that Fili would have whispered to comfort their little mouse. He had even picked her up and carried her to the breakfast table so her tiny feet wouldn't touch the cold stone floor. How Gili's heart ached now to remember that day.

Fili had been gone some hours when their mother discovered that he had forgotten to take his lunch with him that morning. Dis sent for Kili to go to the forge with the meal, lest Fili go hungry before he returned that night for supper. Gili, only 15 and still regarded as a toddler, would not be separated from both of her brothers all day. No admonishment from her mother would keep her home for Kili to make the trip alone. Dis had relented, as she usually did where her two youngest were concerned, never having been able to fight them both, and allowed Gili to accompany Kili on the mission.

When they arrived at the great forge, neither dwarfling could get over the sight of the forge flames in their varying shades of orange, red, yellow and gold. In truth, some of the flames were even blue and still others so hot they appeared white. The sounds of the many hammers clanging against the metals were almost deafening to the young dwarren. Gili held her chubby little hands over her ears as they walked past each forge searching for Fili. That was probably the reason that she and Kili were separated, her hand no longer held in his.

When Kili finally found their brother a few yards away, he pulled on Fili's tunic from behind to get his attention, smiling up at their golden brother as he turned. Fili smiled back at Kili, a surprised look on his face to see his little brother there. Fili grinned when the younger handed over his lunch. Kili received a big hug and a hair-ruffling from his big brother and puffed out his little chest with pride and said, "See, Gili. I told you we'd find him."

Fili's eyes widened upon hearing Kili's words. He knew that although the forge was no place for his little brother, it was definitely no place for his beloved baby sister. He looked around desperately for his Gili, his little mouse, the light of his life. He took Kili by the shoulders, shaking him slightly, a confused look settling on Kili's face. "Where is she, Kee? Where is our sister?" he asked the younger prince before a terrified, eye-widening gaze came upon his face.

Kili followed Fili's stare as the older prince began to run headlong toward a forge. Kili couldn't move. He was rooted to the floor of the forge in fear. He watched, terrified, as the scene played out before him.

Gili recalled being utterly enthralled with the forges and in awe that her perfect, golden brother worked there every day now. Her pudgy little legs drew her closer and closer to the large dwarves that were pounding the metals into submission. Their arms were striped with rippling muscles and Gili remembered later that she had wondered if Fili would one day have muscles that large and strong.

Her tiny feet carried her closer and closer to the pounding dwarves working the hot metal. As she reached to tug on the apron of the closest dwarf to enquire as to her brother's whereabouts, the dwarf turned with the fiery metal in hand to dunk it in a bucket of water next to him, not seeing or expecting the little princess in his path.

Two screams rang out above the clanging of the hammers in the forge that day, her own scream and Fili's. As Gili thought back, her lip quivered again and, at last, a single fat teardrop rolled down her cheek. Fili had run toward her as fast as his legs would carry him. The last several feet he launched himself into the air knocking his sister out of the way and taking the full brunt of the hot sword himself. The smell of burning flesh was something that Gili would never forget as she watched Fili's shirt catch fire. Nor would she forget the agonizing look on Fili's face as he crawled toward her, making sure that she was uninjured.

The scars from the burns on the golden prince's back were a badge of honor that he wore to this day. They were a constant reminder of his love for his sister and his willingness to give his life for her. The scars on Gili's heart were a badge of guilt that she would wear forever. They were a constant reminder of Fili's pain and the fact that she had nearly lost him that day.

Fili had lain for weeks in the medical wing between this world and the next. They had not known if he would survive and Kili and Gili were not allowed to see him. Gili cried for him every day until he finally recovered enough from the burns and infection that followed that they were sure that he would live. She cried for him when they finally allowed her to see him, though she was really too young to understand how close to death he truly had been. She cried for him now because she finally understood that he would have ever protected her, stood between herself and danger, as long as he drew breath.

But her Fili, her shield against the world, was not here. Neither was her Kili, her mischievous sparkling-eyed brother that always lifted her spirits and made her laugh. They were far away and she was on her own, lost and alone. She did not know how much more strength there was within her, how much longer she would be able to keep her fears at bay. Gili lay down upon the moth-eaten, dirty furs at the back of the tent and drew her knees up to her chest. Her thumb found her mouth, comforting herself in a way that she hadn't done in so long. Her eyes sought out the little orc even as her eyelids fluttered, trying to remain open.

"Sleep, little one," Weznuk whispered as he eased closer to the little dwarf, placing himself between her and the opening of the tent. Gili tensed slightly until she realized that the little orc had no intention of touching her. She gasped a bit as she watched him put himself between her and anything that would come through the tent opening. With tears drying on her eyelashes, and a heaviness in her heart that would not soon abate, Gili fell into an uneasy sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smaug never came. Thorin inherited his reign upon the death of his grandfather and the death of his father in the same hunting accident that killed his sister's husband. Erebor remained in tact as did Dale, and Thorin's people thrive in the Lonely Mountain.
> 
> Fili and Kili have a baby sister, Gili of whom they are proud, protective and jealously guard with their lives. They are her rocks and keep her grounded in reality. Born 5 years after Fili and 3 years after Kili, the trio grow up together and slowly come to realize that sometimes a dwarf's "one" can be "two".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_At long last, life and the ever-present multi-tasking of a mind held fast in the bonds of Attention Deficit Disorder, have allowed me to update this fic which shows no signs of ever drawing to a close (more's the pity). Thank you to everyone for your patience and the comments that keep me wanting to write. I have only one negative comment on this fic thus far and it was, unfortunately, not constructive criticism. But I shall endure and I hope you will all see this monstrosity through with me to the end._ **

Gili had not been asleep long, possibly an hour or two, when the sounds of warfare woke her. Weznuk had stolen closer to her and was turning to wake her when she sat up suddenly. “Quietly, little dwarf,” Weznuk whispered, his voice even more crackled. “The great Defiler and his band left just after you slept to raid again. This is not their return.”

Screams in the dark rang out through the stillness of the orc camp. The hollow yet solid bang of metal on metal pierced the darkness of Gili’s tent and the smell of smoke and burning tent hides permeated the closeness of the night air. Her terrified gaze locked with the little orc as her eyes questioned him silently. 

“Illska Golog,” he answered, not able to recall the word for evil elves in the common tongue because of his fear. He knew that he must get her away. The elves would kill him, of that he had no doubt. He had seen too many of his kind fall to their thirst for orc and goblin blood and if he died, there would be no one left to protect her. 

He could not know that elves and dwarves were allies. He could not know that she would, therefore, be protected by them. All he knew was that she was the only creature that had ever looked upon him without revulsion and he had to get her to safety. Perhaps if they ran he too could escape before the Defiler returned, for he knew that Azog would end his existence slowly for his blatant defiance of the orc leader’s orders.

Weznuk had never been allowed to possess a weapon. He was a servant to the group of orcs that Azog led. So he tore the sharpened bone from his ears allowing them to flop outwards and Gili almost laughed. Perhaps her terror was affecting her in strange ways. He reached around Gili, as she shrank back from him, and used the bone to split the soft wall of the hide tent with a slit just big enough that they could crawl through. He crawled out first to make certain that there was no fighting within sight and then held the slit open so that Gili could crawl through herself. “Come, little one,” he spoke softly. “You must get away.”

Gili eased from the tent, not fully trusting the little orc, but realizing that he was the lesser of the two evils in her life at the moment. “I cannot stand, Weznuk,” she said and noticed how his eyes widened and then closed softly as the sound of his name was whispered so gently upon her lips.

“I will help you,” he replied. “If…if you will allow me to,” he flinched as though expecting the back of her hand, or at the very least a look of revulsion on her lovely face.

Gili hesitated only momentarily before nodding to the little orc. His surprise at her acceptance and the unintentionally menacing smile full of sharply pointed teeth gave sincerity to his delight, so much so that Gili’s pity was warmed for the poor creature. She knew that she could never forget what he was, but she could feel her sympathy for Weznuk grow. 

Gili lifted her hand to Weznuk and felt the dry, scaly skin of his own take hers as he lifted her to her feet. He was not much bigger than herself, considerably smaller than most orcs she had heard of, but still bigger than goblins as she had them pictured in her mind. Weznuk put Gili’s arm around his neck and put his arm around her waist. He had never willingly touched another creature, nor had he ever been touched by another except to be beaten, in the whole of his remembrance. He lifted Gili, taking the bulk of her weight onto himself and they ran as fast as they could with her injury away from the sound of the fray.

They had not gotten far when a sudden pain in her middle doubled Gili over onto herself and stole her breath. She tried to be as silent as possible but the pain was excruciating and most unfamiliar. Weznuk whined slightly, not just because they were still too close to the orc camp to stop, but also because there was a scent rolling off the little dwarf lass unlike any he had ever smelled before. 

The scent tickled along his spine as he inhaled deeper. He had, long ago, learned to live with the cast-offs and left-overs of the other orcs’ meals. When he was fortunate, he would find a few bites of meat or gristle still left on the bones the others threw away, before the wargs got to them. When he was unlucky, he scavenged the bones the wargs did not find and broke them open to slurp the marrow that hid inside. He was never allowed to join in the raids to the villages of men, so gorging on the garbage that was always abundant there was never an option.

But this scent was unlike any food he had ever known and yet it caused his mouth to water and his tongue ache to taste. It was having other effects upon his body as well. Weznuk had never known pleasure, had never indulged himself. His body was for the use of others, there was never one for he himself to use. So it frightened him when that most unused part of himself began to swell and rise. He panicked and dropped Gili, scurrying away from her some distance and squatting to the ground.

Gili groaned and curled around her stomach pitifully. There was a heaviness inside her and somewhat of a flush to her flesh. She felt a wetness between her legs and a trickle begin to form on her thighs. She dropped her hand into her smallclothes and withdrew it to find bright red blood on her fingers. “NO!” she gasped looking at the little orc with at first a pained expression, then one of abject horror when she saw the unrealized lust in his eyes. “Oh MAHAL, please no. Not now, not now, not now!”

To her amazement, the full flowering was upon Gili. She knew that she was too young, too unprepared for the feverish pain that she would be forced to endure alone, away from her mother, away from her Ones. But she also knew that times of great stress could sometimes have ill effects upon the bodies of young dwarrow and bring about unexpected outcomes. Gili began to shiver and shake. She needed to eat, to be warm, but most of all she needed to be fully and completely bonded to her Ones.

Every part of her cried out for Fili and Kili. She would die before she would have another. Unknowingly, the Bond of the One that had begun on that balcony so many…was it only days, weeks before?…had been silently at work with Gili, and now her body would never open to another save those with the scent of her Ones. 

 

* * * * *

 

Like the elves before them, Thorin and his sister-sons were also forced to spell their mounts by the lake. Fili and Kili were beside themselves with worry and threatening to just leave the Mahal-damned beasts and track their One on foot. Thorin, however, was more pragmatic and threatened to tie the princes to an obliging tree if they didn’t sit down and shut up.

Fili did his best to comfort and cajole Kili into joining him on the small stump. “Please, my l…um, brother,” he began try to touch Kili again and plead with him, but amended as he glanced at Thorin.

“Please what, my LOVE?” Kili spat in Thorin’s direction, the King having the decency to look at least a bit guilty as Kili continued his rant. “That’s right, uncle. We are in love! And the only other dwarf who can complete our heart is out there, alone. She has most probably been captured by orcs and you want us to sit here while those shaggy beasts nibble grass incessantly?” he turned to Fili, tears streaming unabashed down his cheeks. “It is not to be borne, azyungal!”

Fili had no words to ease the terror in Kili’s eyes so he drew the archer into his embrace and just held him. He knew that Kili’s fear was not for Kili himself. He knew that neither of them would hesitate to lay down their lives facing every orc in Middle-earth to save their sweet sister, for neither of them wanted to live without her. She was the glue that bound them together, the gentleness to their strength, their buffer against a world of loneliness.

Kili calmed at the touch of his brother’s knuckles on his cheek, the elder’s hand tugging his dark hair gently. “Breathe with me, azyungal,” Fili said tenderly. “You are right. You are my love, as is Gili, and I want to get to her now, this moment, just as you do. But we cannot. So breathe with me, my love, and know that somewhere beyond this place our One is breathing as well. And we will find her,” Fili continued as he cut his eyes to their uncle and spoke with a firmness that Thorin had never heard in the golden heir’s voice, “or we will die trying.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili is found...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_Thank you everyone for sticking with me through this journey. Who knew that what was to be a simple one-shot would morph into this monstrosity? There are just a very few more chapters now but this chapter has finally found our little dwarf lass rescued. Enjoy!_ **

The orc camp was fully engulfed in a night raid by orc-slayers. Azog and his own raiding band had been gone several hours and would, in all likelihood, not return until sometime after dawn if not on up into the morning. The orc-slayers could not have known that this band of orcs were any different than any other band of orcs. They could not have known that it was led by the fiercest of all the Gundabad orcs in Middle-earth. They simply saw orcs and the blood-lust rose to a fevered pitch as arrows flew, swords hacked and fires burned higher and brighter.

The screams filling the night air sent chills through Gili’s spine, even from the distance that she and Weznuk had traveled. The screeches were of the injured and dying orcs and were sounds that had never been heard, or even imagined, before by the sheltered little dwarf lass. In her pain-filled haze, she saw Weznuk’s eyes break from her face to glance back toward the direction of his camp. He shook with fear and she knew that they were not nearly far enough away for his liking.

The princes and their king were finally able to continue their journey. Although they stopped several times to make certain that they were still following the trail left by the orcs from the pond, they arrived at last to witness the end of the battle between the orcs and their slayers. The dead orcs were being burned upon the pyres in the orc camp. The orcs who had not been killed immediately, were now being rounded up and were put to the sword. Thorin and his sister-sons rode into the camp to witness the last of that carnage. 

The scent of their One was heavy on the night air, even above the scent of the massacre. Fili and Kili were off their horses before the beasts had even stopped and had it not been for the command of their uncle and king, they would have torn through the camp without thought for their own safety. The leader of the orc killers made his way toward the dwarves and when he was outlined in firelight, at last, Thorin took an easy breath, immediately recognizing the elf prince before him. “Prince Legolas,” Thorin addressed the Mirkwood heir with an inclination of his head.

“Thorin, King Under the Mountain,” Legolas said with a bow, “and the princes Fili and Kili,” he acknowledged. “How came you all here this night?”

“My young niece, the princess Gili, has been taken from her home and kin, we believe by this filth,” Thorin answered. “We tracked her here but have yet to discover her whereabouts.”

The elf prince nodded. “That must have been the female that was taken at the pond several miles back,” Legolas reported. 

“You have seen her? Where is she? Is she well?” Fili and Kili said, each talking over the other, their eyes wild with worry.

“We were on our way to Erebor to seek counsel with your uncle,” Legolas continued, addressing the princes. “We happened upon the orcs with a female they had captured. We tracked them here and put them to the sword,” the elf continued, on an eye level with Thorin, as the dwarf had not yet dismounted his pony. “But we have found no sign of the female as yet.”

At the elf prince’s last statement Kili whined miserably, Fili’s hand automatically reaching for his brother, pulling the younger close. “I feel her, Fili,” Kili moaned, his fingers twining in Fili’s hair as his head dipped to Fili’s shoulder. “She is close, I know it. I need her, Fee. I need her.”

As suddenly as the words left Kili’s mouth, the wind changed. A scent upon the breeze wafted around the assembled elves and dwarves that had the eyes of the elves widening and the dwarf princes growling like feral beasts. “Mahal,” Thorin breathed. He looked at his sister-sons, noting how their nostrils flared, how their lips curled back over their teeth, and how a huge bulge formed in their breeches. “Find her. Follow the scent and find her, now,” he commanded, the princes moving away quickly to do his bidding.

Thorin felt no need to explain the situation further to the elves and Legolas did not ask, though his eyebrow did rise in questions that remained unanswered for now. The king had thought that Gili’s flowering would have sent him, along with her brothers, into a mating frenzy, but such was not the case. He was responding, there was no doubt about that, he thought as he rocked on his pony and adjusted his own throbbing hardness surreptitiously.

Perhaps the trio had not been completely honest in the account of their coupling before Gili ran away. Perhaps they did not realize themselves. Only a bonding between a mated pair would sate the flowering scent, causing only the mated Ones to be affected by the particular scent of each other. Perchance the bond had been at least partially completed after all and if that was the case, Thorin would have to seriously reconsider his stance on the union of the three. Conceivably, this partial bond was the reason Thorin was spared the full fire in his loins and the urge to take, claim and possess. Whatever the reason, he silently thanked Mahal for the sparing.

Fili and Kili scented the air, smelling the most delicious fragrance they could ever have imagined. They followed the scent of their sister’s flowering as it led away from the camp for several hundred meters. They heard Gili whimpering and moaning as they topped the next little rise. The dawn was just breaking over the rolling hills of the plains, painting the sky with streaks of pink, gold and grey, when they came upon their sister and a creature surely sent from the depths of all nightmares crawling toward her.

Kili’s bow was at the ready, an arrow nocked, and as the creature looked their way the brothers saw its eyes bulge and saw it throw itself at their sister. Fili roared with fear-driven rage his twin swords drawn and Kili let his arrows fly as they both ran, hell bent for leather, toward their sister. Weznuk threw himself over Gili, trying to protect her with his body as the crazed dwarves rushed toward them. “NO!” Gili screamed when the arrow found its mark in Weznuk’s spine, the orc stumbling and falling next to her. 

The creature whimpered, getting to his knees before Gili. “Forgive me, little one,” he croaked as his hands hit the dirt at her feet. “I…failed…you,” he croaked as he pressed the sharpened tusk which he had pulled from his ears earlier, into her hand. 

Gili reached for the little orc, taking the sharpened bone from him. She held the bone, knowing that she would keep it always, and held his misshapen head between her hands. She rested his head on her lap with care and stroked his rough cheek as she cried. Never, had there been a more pitiful creature than this little orc. He had been so kind to her, so caring, even giving up his life for her in the end. And yet in all his life, unlike her, he had been so unloved, never shown kindness.

As his eyes closed one final time, Gili whispered to him, tears streaming down her cheeks, “You did not fail me, Weznuk. My brothers have come for me.” Gili stroked his cheek and rocked him, gently. “Rest easy. I will never forget you.” As he breathed his last, she saw the tiny smile ghost over his cracked lips. She eased herself out from under the little orc and gently laid his head upon the ground. She was sobbing and crawling away from him as Fili and Kili reached her.

No words would come to any of them. No sound was uttered between the three of them, save the sobs being wrenched from three throats and the kisses as lips were claimed by lips. Kili had reached Gili first by virtue of his longer legs and faster speed. He threw down his bow and picked her up off the ground sealing her lips with his own just as Fili arrived to embrace them both. 

As Fili took them in his strong arms and claimed his own kiss from her lips, she knew that her ordeal was over and that she was home. She was safe again. She was locked between the two bodies that she loved more than life itself and she knew that they would never allow her to leave them again. “My loves, my loves,” she whispered over and over, sobbing, refusing the release them even enough for her to catch a deep breath. “Forgive me, forgive me,” she cried.

“Oh, Gili, sweet baby sister,” Kili cried as he held her and then took a deep breath. “Mahal, you smell so good,” he said as he rubbed his nose in her neck and hair, growling low in his throat.

“Oh no,” Gili replied with a small giggle as Kili nuzzled her. “I desperately need a bath,” she said giggling again as now Kili and Fili both nosed and nibbled at her neck, licking her and biting her gently. They smelled so good to her as well and with every inhale, the pains in her abdomen eased while a different kind of fire was steadily growing in her loins.

Fili had scented her too, growling and just as possessive as was Kili. The irises of their eyes had bled to black with their heightened lusts. Fili knew that they needed to get Gili back to the safety of the mountain, but he feared that there was no way they would be able to ride with her so close and not have her, completely. There was also the problem of their uncle and an entourage of elves with which to deal. 

No, they could not allow Gili to remain unclaimed with other unbonded males in the vicinity. There was also no way they could make it back into Erebor without Gili’s condition becoming a problem for them with all the unbonded males there as well. Fili and Kili trusted their uncle, if not necessarily the elves, to protect them so they lowered their One gently to the ground and stretched out beside her. 

“Are you hurt, sannamad?” Fili asked her touching her arms and legs, looking for any obvious wounds.

“Only my ankle,” Gili replied. “Damnable pony threw a shoe and tossed me when I arrived by the pond where I was captured.” Her eyes grew wide with fright as she remembered the Defiler taking her. “Oh, brothers, it was a nightmare,” she said as she looked up at her beloveds who were raised up on their elbows and looking down at her.

Gili gasped at the looks of naked desire on their faces. She had loved them all of her life, had slept beside them, dreamed of them, ached for them. And now, Mahal willing, she would have them at last. “Will you both finally claim me this night, make me truly yours as I have ever been?” she asked hesitantly, the pain low in her stomach somewhat lessened by the close proximity of her bond-mates. “Please,” she said softly as the princes looked at one another. “Please, I need you both so,” she whimpered touching any part of their flesh that she could reach, rubbing herself along their hard, muscular bodies. 

The feeling of their bare flesh on hers sent tingles through her body and a warmth deep within her as Fili replied, “Your flowering has begun, little one. If we do not claim you now, I fear that we will have to fight every male between here and the mountain to keep them off of you,” he smiled, kissing her lips softly. “Not that I could blame them…look at you…Mahal, Gili. You are so beautiful,” he breathed. “But if we do claim you,” Fili said as he pointedly looked at Kili now, the younger prince all but rutting on their sister, so high was his desire for her. “If we do claim you now, Gili, there could be a child to come of this mating.”

Kili stilled immediately. He knew as well as Fili that their sister was still so very young, nowhere near of age yet. Her flowering shouldn’t even be happening for at least another ten years, give or take, and that it was probably only brought on this early by the stresses she had lately faced. Could they risk getting her with child? Could her body take the carrying and birthing of a babe? No, they must not risk it. They must never risk her. Kili shook his head and rolled away from Gili, the painful need in his staff secondary to his sister’s welfare. “No,” he said emphatically. “We will not, Fili. We cannot. She is too young, too small. We cannot.”

Gili sat up, moving away from Fili slightly to curl around Kili’s back, her hands tight around his waist. She could feel him shaking with need, shaking with sobs that he would not utter, lest he appear weak. “Please, Kili, beloved,” Gili whimpered, the pain rising once again, her thighs slick with her moon-blood and need. “The pain, brother, I cannot bear the pain. Please help me, love me, Kili, please,” Gili’s cries stripped Kili’s soul and laid him bare. He hissed when her small hand found his large bulge and rubbed it through his trousers. “This is mine, Kili, MINE,” Gili groaned as she gripped his still-clothed hard length. “Please do not deny me, brother. Unless…unless you mean to withdraw your courtship?”

The pleading sound of heartache in Gili’s voice was Kili’s undoing. He turned back to her and took her into his arms, kissing her so deeply she almost gagged on his tongue, even as she sucked it deeper and deeper into her mouth. He looked at his brother with agreement in their eyes when he finally broke the kiss. Fili answered for them both. “You will be ours, beloved, in body as well as soul,” he said as he kissed her cheeks and neck. “But you deserve better than a quick toss in the dirt like some common whore of men. Come, we will return to uncle, let him know that you are safe and then we will leave this place to join with you as befits our precious, beloved baby sister.” Then Fili picked Gili up and carried her back, bridal style, back to their uncle and the elves, Kili’s arm around his waist, refusing to be parted even that distance from his Ones.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gili has been rescued and reunited with her beloved brother-lovers. Prince Legolas has sworn to protect the trio so that they might complete the bonding, but Thorin still remains unconvinced that a bonding between his heirs is in their best interests. Will he relent? Will the trio ever become One?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_I am losing patience with Thorin (as I usually do). I can't even write my own story wherein he's not a cock-blocker. Thanks so much to everyone who had commented and sent me emails, for those who have followed and favorited/bookmarked this offering. Your devotion means more to me than I can ever convey._ **
> 
> **_There's not much to go now, just a few more chapters. So if there's anything special that you'd like to see happen, let me know and I'll do my level best._ **

The return of the trio was alerted as Thorin and Legolas conversed further. Thorin dismounted at once and pressed his way toward his heirs, concern evident on his careworn face. A vicious snarl issued forth from behind Kili’s barred teeth as he placed his body physically in front of his brother and sister. Fili growled as well, the rumble deep within his chest issuing forth from an ancient need to protect his mate. He turned his body so that Gili, held close in his arms, was hidden from the view of their uncle and the elves as she whimpered. 

The fear rolling off of the little princess since entering her uncle’s line of sight was palpable and she clung tighter to her brother, unconsciously seeking to cover herself with his scent. The last time she had seen her uncle, he was discussing her imminent marriage to an Iron Hills dwarf with her mother. She knew that Thorin still had the power to separate her from her brothers, for she had not yet been mounted and fully claimed by either of them. She was still a virgin.

Thorin raised his hands before him as he approached the trio slowly. He spoke with more calm and restraint than he had ever spoken in his life, looking first to Fili and then to Kili. He tried to keep the urgent need in his loins out of his voice, but he knew without a doubt that both brothers would scent it on him a mile away. “Peace, my sister-sons,” Thorin cooed, as though he was attempting to soothe a feral animal. “No one will take her from you. No one will interfere. She is yours, but I must know, is she well? Is she unharmed?” Thorin didn’t dare try to speak to Gili herself, knowing that in their possessive state, the princes would never allow it.

It was Gili’s small, sweet voice that finally spoke, as her wide eyes gazed up from over Fili’s shoulder. “I am well, uncle,” she said, dropping kisses into Fili’s golden hair as she breathed him in. She reached for Kili seeking the solace of his touch, her actions seeking to palliate their bonding urges. “I twisted my ankle when my pony threw me, but otherwise I am unharmed.”

“Oh, thank Mahal, my beloved little mouse,” Thorin sighed as his eyes closed in a silent prayer to Mahal for his protection of their cherished girl. As much as he wished it otherwise, Thorin knew that he should explain the situation to the prince of the Greenwood so he turned and walked on shaky limbs away from the trio a short distance asking Legolas with a hardened look to the elf to join him. 

“My heirs have begun the Bond of the One, Prince Legolas, against my wishes, but there it is,” Thorin began. Legolas just nodded as if he apparently surmised as much. “My niece, Gili has begun her first flowering, brought on much too soon most probably by the stress of her kidnapping. They must be allowed to complete the bond or she will suffer greatly. She will be in too much pain to travel the full distance to Erebor.”

Legolas nodded again, thoughtfully, before he replied. “We must get your heirs away from this area lest other orcs return. This cannot have been all of them, for there seemed to be no leader among them. Perhaps we can make it as far back as the pond where the princess was taken and make an appropriate camp for the completion of their bonding,” Legolas said. “We can protect them better and make them more comfortable there,” he concluded.

“You have my thanks, Prince Legolas,” Thorin said, looking decidedly relieved. He approached the trio once more in the same slow, careful manner and informed them of the plan. “Can you make it, darling little mouse?” Thorin asked her. “Can you hold out for just a few more hours, dearest one?” Gili just nodded and pulled Kili closer to her while cuddling closer into Fili’s strong arms. 

“I will try, uncle,” Gili whimpered as her brothers held her. “Only please, my king,” she said in the most respectful words she could muster, “please do not take me from them. Please do not separate us and send me away when we return to Erebor.” Three pairs of eyes turned Thorin’s way. Three hearts skipped a beat and three sets of ears waited for a promise that would not come. Thorin took a deep breath, closed his eyes as he released it and turned to walk away.

 

**********

The group of dwarves and elves traveled onward toward Erebor as the sun climbed higher and higher into the sky. Gili had no idea if the Defiler had returned yet to find his camp destroyed and his prisoner gone. She was grateful that if or when he did return, Weznuk would not be there to bear the brunt of the Gundabad brute’s wrath. Her tears fell once more for the kind little orc who had facilitated her escape. If there was redemption for orcs and a paradise in the hereafter, she hoped that Weznuk reached it safely. 

Fili could scarcely think of anything at all except that his sweet baby sister was sitting on his lap in front of him and his arms were tight around her. Kili rode as close to them as possible, his worried eyes hardly ever leaving Gili, his hand reaching out to touch her or Fili every so often. 

Every lope of the pony sent waves of pain through Gili’s abdomen, causing her to grimace, and waves of need through her woman’s sheath as it rubbed against Fili’s ever-hardening shaft through their clothing. She pressed her nose to Fili’s neck, his ruffling scent of utter masculinity only part of what she needed. Gili whimpered and moaned Kili’s name, her body on fire for him as well, the slick between her legs a hot aching need. “Kili, Kili, Kili,” she lamented even as she sniffed and licked at Fili’s neck once more.

“Kili,” Fili snapped, “Give me your tunic, quickly.” Kili drew his eyes away from Gili long enough to register what Fili had said. He saw Fili’s hand outstretched to him and immediately shucked himself out of the tunic he had been wearing for the past few days. Fili took it immediately and wrapped it around his sister, pressing it up under her nose, seeing Gili physically relax after just a few inhales. “That’s it my sweet baby-girl,” Fili cooed. “Smell your lovers all around you and know that you are safe, little one. Know that you are loved and needed. You will be ours very soon, beloved.”

Gili’s eyes closed as she was surrounded by the scent of her Ones. Her senses registered protection, safety, security. Gili reached and took Fili’s hand, the one that was not holding the reigns of their pony, and drew it up under Kili’s tunic that was over her. She pressed Fili’s hand down into the bodice of her gown and whimpered as his skin brushed her own. She immediately heard Fili’s rapid intake of breath as his fingers closed around her breast and tweaked her nipple. “Baby, oh, fucking Mahal, baby,” Fili whispered, resorting to Kili’s more colorful swears. His cock filled with blood beneath her, growing impossibly long and thick, almost painful in its confinement. 

Gili whimpered. “Want you so bad, big brother, so bad,” she whined and ground her little backside down onto Fili’s lap, earning her a sharp tug on her teat. “Need you, Fee. Need you inside me. Need you to take me, claim me, fuck me, Fee!” she purred, almost insane with desire, her scent thick and musky with it.

“I know, my precious baby-love, I know,” Fili groaned. “THORIN, how much farther?” he called up ahead to their uncle. But Thorin didn’t have to answer as the pond came into view just then. Kili was off his pony before anyone else and reaching up for Gili before Fili could even fully stop his mount.

Fili was reluctant to give up his hold on his sister, even if only to dismount his pony. But Kili was having none of it. “Give her to me, Fee. I need her. I need to hold her,” he said as Gili was reaching for him as well. Fili knew that it had been difficult for Kili to ride alone with Gili so close, but Fili was the better rider and not even Kili would risk their sister riding double with his inexperience. So Fili reluctantly relinquished his hold on Gili and gave her over into Kili’s arms. Gili immediately stuck her nose into Kili’s neck and hair, breathing him in deeply, her tongue licking his naked shoulders and tasting his salty goodness.

“Touch me brother, please, touch me. Put your hands on me,” Gili begged, as Kili sat down cuddling her on his lap. Kili, of course, obliged his sister, having never denied her anything and not about to start now. With one hand he untied the laces on the back of her gown, tugging the garment down over her shoulders and bearing her lovely full breasts to his lips and tongue. He suckled first one teak then the other, her nipples hardened pebbles of need that it seemed to Gili were connected directly to her drenched cunt.

His other hand he slipped up under the hem of her gown and into her smallclothes. He whimpered when he felt the slickness there between her thighs. He flicked his fingers over Gili’s swollen and erect little nub and sucked a deep mark on her neck when she arched her back in pleasure baring the graceful curve of it to him. Kili continued to rub the little pleasure button, every few moments dipping his long, agile fingers into her dripping canal below. Gili cried out in release, her nectar spurting and spraying out over Kili’s hand. 

Kili cuddled his sister as she shuddered and came down from her orgasm. He pulled his hand from beneath Gili’s gown and began to lick her fluids from his fingers. He rutted beneath her as his erection was becoming painful now and the rutting, combined with the taste of Gili’s juices, caused Kili to come undone right there on the ground, still clothed beneath her. “OH FUCK!” he screamed. He had never come like that before ever, no touch, nothing but the taste and scent of his One and the pleasure, her pleasure, which he alone had given her. He kissed Gili deeply swallowing her moan as she tasted herself on his lips.

Fili had turned the ponies over to the elves as they made camp and erected a tent for the trio’s privacy. Fili stood guard over his siblings as they sat behind him. He refused to allow anyone near Gili, snarling and growling whenever anyone accidently drifted too close. He noticed how lovely his siblings were in their pleasure-drenched haze. They looked so sated and so very much in love, and Fili loved them both beyond all thought. He knew without the shadow of a doubt that he would kill for them, die for them and knew that they felt the same for him.

Thorin approached slowly once more, having witnessed Fili and Kili’s various touches that they had given to his little mouse. Perhaps there was still some way to get through to them how wrong their coupling was. They were all three still so young. They could find others more suitable as husband or wives, preferably good political matches. He just had to try. It was his duty as their uncle, their guardian and their king. He would appeal to Fili’s innate need to protect his siblings, something he had done his entire life. Fili would protect them above all else, even if he must protect them from himself and from each other. Yes, Thorin could use this. He could make Fili understand.

**_TBC_ **


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin plays his hand...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****  
> _The journey is almost at an end and what a wild ride it has been. Thank you so much to everyone who has encouraged me to continue and to everyone who has given me such wonderfully constructive criticism. I love you all!_   
> 

Fili lifted Gili ever so gently from their brother’s arms where he sat upon the ground. She was limp from her release just moments before, barely having the energy to put her arms about his neck. She smiled at Fili as she nuzzled his neck gently and whispered to him, “Love you, Fee. Love you so much.” Kili had been so very reluctant to allow her to leave the shelter of his embrace, for he felt that he had only just touched her, only just held her, and he needed more. He needed her scent all over him, needed to bathe in it. He needed to cover her with his own scent and, above all, he needed to breed her, claim her, protect her and he knew that Fili felt the same. 

“Fili,” Thorin said softly, his hands open and held away from his body so as not to startle the elder prince. “A word, please, just a moment to speak with you, alone.” Thorin was sure that he could reason with Fili for the prince had ever been so level-headed, so reasonable. Thorin needed to convince Fili to wait, to not take Gili, to guard his sister’s virginity. There was still hope within him that the three heirs would grow out of this nonsense. They were siblings, for Mahal’s sake, and siblings did not wed, did not become mates, at least not in Thorin’s view.

Fili barred his teeth and turned his One away from Thorin when he scented her heightened anxiety in the presence of their uncle. “Have no fear, my precious One. You are safe with your brothers again.” He kissed Gili deeply and handed her over to Kili who had risen to flank his brother should Thorin dare try to separate them from their sister. Either Fili or Kili had their eyes on Thorin at all times. They never let him out of their sight and their bodies were between Thorin and Gili, never allowing him to get closer than arm’s length away. 

Even had Gili’s ankle been well enough for her to walk, doubtless her brothers would not have put her down, so strong was their need for her closeness. “Take our beloved One, Kili, into the tent and help her to bathe. Please see to her needs. Undoubtedly she is hungry and tired,” Fili said as he watched Kili hold Gili close. “And Kili,” he said in a stern and dominant voice as the younger turned to leave, “you will wait.”

“Yes, Fili,” Kili answered meekly, head bowed as he cradled Gili close to his body. With his body language as much as his words he was recognizing Fili’s dominance and acquiescing to Fili’s instructions as he did in all things.

Fili crossed his arms over his chest and turned to face his uncle and king once more when he was certain that his siblings were safe within the tent and guarded by elves. “What is it, Thorin,” he said, his voice deep and strong, his countenance stern and set. Fili’s body language spoke volumes, telling Thorin that he was not to be trifled with. It was the first inkling to Thorin that Fili might not be so easily swayed. 

Fili’s body fairly thrummed with energy as he awaited Thorin’s talk. He was sporting a raging hardness between his legs and every nerve ending in his body seemed to burn with the aching need; but, still he waited, standing as still as a statue. “I would ask that you hear me out, before leaping to judgment, my sister-son,” Thorin began. “You have ever been the most level-headed of my nephews and I trust that has not changed now, just because of the beginnings of a bond.” 

Fili just nodded, but his eyes betrayed him as they flicked between the tent and Thorin. The need to retreat to the tent and the comfort of his Ones was an almost overwhelming one. Fili’s breath came in deep, rumbling puffs as he only half listened to Thorin.

“Fili, I truly believe that you, Kili and Gili believe yourselves to be bonded. I do not doubt that you believe them to be your Ones as they do you,” Thorin began, his tone firm but gentle and condescending. “However, your siblings are so very young and innocent. You, yourself, are still too young to be considering a bond yet,” Thorin continued. He began to pace slowly back and forth between Fili and the tent containing Fili’s siblings. 

Thorin’s hands were clasped behind his back as he paced and continued his speech. “You must help me, Fili. You must protect your brother and sister from this madness that seems to have fallen upon you three. There is no question that you have all been very close while growing up, and no one wishes to separate you three before time,” with those words, Fili’s eyes snapped to Thorin and the king immediately ceased his pacing. “Fili, I am asking you to protect them from their own selves. They are too young to know their own minds with this fever upon them. They need your strength to keep them pure.”

Fili strode without hesitation toward his uncle standing tall before his king and looking up into his face. “I have never been apart from my siblings until this incident,” Fili began, his voice strong, confident, definitely that of an alpha male and future king. “We will never be parted again. If you insist upon political marriages, we will renounce our claim as your heirs to the throne and we will leave Erebor forever.”

Thorin’s eyes widened and he gasped at the thought that his heirs would choose to forgo their birthright to be together. Thorin shook his head, looking down at his eldest heir. “It grieves my heart to know that you would take your brother and sister and leave your mother and home behind,” Thorin said, his voice solemn. “I would not have that happen. Do you tell me now that it is your intent to take your sister to wife?” he asked.

“That is my intent,” Fili answered, his face stoic. “As soon as we complete our bond and return to Erebor we will make the announcement.”

“And your brother?” Thorin asked. “What is to become of Kili? If you take Gili to wife, what is Kili’s role in your lives?”

“Kili will be consort to both myself and Gili,” Fili said. “We will not be parted from him. He is our One.” It was settled in Fili’s mind. It was settled in their hearts. It was as if they had always known their roles and they would gladly assume them now.

“So be it,” Thorin sighed, his heart heavy knowing that this road his heirs had chosen would be a difficult one possibly not accepted by their people. However, he would not see the ones he loved as his own children walk out of his life. His people would be guided in their acceptance of the trio by his own actions. And with one step out of Fili’s path, Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain, began the acceptance of the union of his heirs.

**_TBC_ **


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At long last, our trio finally completes their bond...or do they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_Thank you so much to everyone who has hung in there with me through this epic journey that began with one question..."What if Fili and Kili had a sister?" This was my very first fanfiction story and I couldn't be more happy with it or the response that I've received from those who love these characters as much as I. Thank you for the words of praise. Thank you for the constructive criticism. Thank you for waiting so patiently for me to finish this work and for contenting yourselves with my other stories until the muse allowed updates here. Finishing this work is bittersweet for me. While I'm glad to finish, of course, I will miss telling their story. Perhaps I will add an epilogue to wrap up a few things, perhaps not. We'll see ;-)._ **

While Thorin had been treating with Fili, Kili had retreated to the safety of the hastily erected tent with their sweet sister. He gently sat her down upon the pallet of furs and silks the elves had provided and readied the basin for her bath. He spoke quickly to the elven guards just outside the tent and requested that water be heated and real food be brought to him for Gili. When he returned to her, Kili found Gili clutching her middle, tears of pain streaming down her cheeks. Still she looked up to the younger of her older brothers with eyes full of love and a blushing smile on her cheeks, despite her pain.

“I have missed you so, my brother,” she spoke softly to Kili, her tiny hand reaching up to wind through his dark, wild locks as he knelt next to her. She had spent her entire life winding her hands thusly, and now it was second nature so much so that they seemed to seek out Kili’s hair of their own volition. “I thought never to again see either of the loves that hold my heart.”

Kili couldn’t find words right away, so he contented himself with gently kneading her abdomen, hoping to ease her suffering before he looked upon his love with warm eyes full of care and concern. “You must promise me, Gili, to never leave us again,” he said softly, his eyes cast down lest she see the deep abiding hurt within them before he took a deep breath, kissed her and continued. “We, we cannot do without you, Fili and I. You are all that binds our hearts together, dearest One.”

Gili nodded her understanding, tears again streaming down her cheeks as the basin and buckets of hot water were brought into the tent. The lovely silver-haired elf also left some sweet-smelling herbal soap and soft cloths for washing and drying before he bowed to the young lovers and took his leave. Kili kissed his sister on the tip of her nose, drawing from her a giggle, and then helped her to rise all the while supporting her as she undressed and protected her injured ankle.

Despite their previous touches, kisses and caresses, on the balcony that night overlooking the fields in front of Erebor, Gili was a bit bashful now in the light of day to be unclothed before her brother, bleeding as she was and battered from the ill treatment of the orcs. She felt dirty from more than just the grime of her journey. There was a filthiness she thought never to bathe away and it made her bashful to think her brothers might now think her filthy and unworthy as well.

As her torn and soiled clothing was peeled away, she noted the way Kili was scenting her. She was made more fully aware of her self-perceived shortcomings as a female dwarf by his lustful gaze. Her body was gently curved, rather than having the pronounced roundness of most dwarf women and she certainly had none of the body hair for which the species was known, save a light smattering under her arms and on her legs and the thick chestnut curls over her sex. Her chest and face was entirely smooth. How could her brothers possibly love a dwarf that was so _undwarflike_?

Kili’s eyes burned on her as they raked her up and down, his breathing hitched as he smelled her flowering scent, released now even more with her nudity. There was nothing disgusting or off-putting about the scent. Indeed, it was rich, spicy and sweet all at the same time and it called to him on a level that he would never understand. It was as though he knew the scent, as though it was ingrained in his memory from a thousand lifetimes ago, and it spoke to his heart as much as to his loins.

Kili shook with need and shook his head to clear it as he retrieved the basin and set to washing Gili as Fili had instructed. He was trying desperately to control his desire to take her and bury himself within her as he bathed her gently with the soft cloth. Soon she was completely clean, feeling better than she had in days, and Kili’s cock was hard enough to mine all the treasure beneath Erebor. His hands had been gentle and they even trembled as he washed her, his lips equally as gentle as they had followed the cloth to kiss her all over.

When Gili was clean and wrapped in a silken sheet, Kili insisted that she eat of the food the elves had brought them while he washed her hair. She complied as his long, archer’s fingers set to work removing the snarls and tangles from her hair before he wet it thoroughly and lathered it completely. Gently, Kili dragged his fingernails over Gili’s scalp, scratching softly as she had always enjoyed as a child.

Gili moaned uncontrollably, so delicious was the feel of her brother’s hands in her hair. Kili’s ministrations just felt so good. “Mahal,” she whispered. Never had anyone bathed her or washed her hair, save her mother when she was still a dwarfling. Never had she known that anything could have felt so good. The act was just so…intimate…and she knew that she would never want to share such an act with anyone else besides her beloved brothers.

By the time that Fili finally entered the tent, Gili had been bathed, dried and fed and sat with Kili curled behind her, his arms around her, wrapped in the silken sheet. They were talking softly, lost in each other, and it was a sight so lovely to behold that Fili felt tears spring to his cerulean eyes. Their sister was so small, as she sat in the shelter of Kili’s arms. She was so vulnerable, so young, as she reclined with her head laid back on Kili’s shoulder. Could Thorin possibly be right? Were his siblings indeed too innocent for this love they felt? Should he seek to preserve that innocence as Thorin wanted so desperately?

Then, with the lifting of one small hand and one longer, delicate hand all of Fili’s doubts slipped from his mind along with the fears of which he refused to give voice. Gili and Kili both smiled up at their golden brother as they lifted their hands to beckon him to join them upon the furs. “Fili,” his siblings breathed. Just one word, his name, and Fili was nearly undone with hearing it fall from their sweet lips.

Fili lowered himself to crawl between their legs, taking their faces in his strong hands. “ _Sannamad, Sannadad_ ,” he echoed, speaking with as much reverence as they had used with him. No more questions clouded his thoughts. No more doubt burned within his soul. These most precious two before him were his Ones and Fili would face the wrath of Aule to remain with them until his final breath. Fili grabbed the both of them within the shelter of his embrace and kissed first Gili then Kili then Gili again.

As he sat facing the two younger siblings Fili realized that he had neglected to pose a much needed question to them. He looked to Gili first, touching her cheek lovingly. “ _Sannamad, beloved sister_ ,” Fili began, “I must ask if you would do me the supreme honor of becoming my wife, and future queen.” As one, Kili and Gili gasped. Whereas they knew that scenario to be the eventual plan, to hear Fili pose the question of their marriage now, rather than later, was a surprise neither had imagined.

Gili looked over her shoulder to catch a sad smile on Kili’s face as he refused to meet her gaze. “Before I answer, Sannadad, what of our beloved brother? What of Kili?” Kili’s eyes snapped up to Gili’s face. He knew, of course, that his siblings loved him, but he had no delusions that they were the future of the kingdom and their union would be no matter his involvement. But to hear the concern for him in Gili’s question, to know that she loved him enough to base her answer on his happiness, made him ache with joy.

Fili smiled sweetly, his hand gently caressing Kili’s cheek as he spoke, “I could not ensure my happiness, nor yours little sister, if it came at the cost of our beloved brother, our One. Kili?” he said as he looked fully into Kili’s eyes, “Would you consent to be consort to myself and Gili?” Fili knew of what he was asking. Should anything befall him, it would be Kili’s duty to wed Gili and care for her as Fili would himself. Kili was heir after Fili, until Fili’s own son was born someday, but as royal consort, Kili would be relinquishing his opportunity to choose a spouse, to have a family of his own, and to sire his own heirs.

But for Kili there never was any other choice. His heart, his soul, his very life was bound to his siblings since the day of his birth. “It would be my honor to be consort to my Ones,” Kili breathed softly, sealing his promise with a kiss to them both.

“As it will be my honor to be your wife and future queen, Fili,” Gili said, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks.

 

* * *

 

Their declarations done, their promises made, the trio could no more resist the call of their desires than they could cease breathing. Gili was whimpering in pain once again and her brothers were aching to see her completely claimed and eased. Kili knew that it was not his place to take Gili so he remained where he was as his siblings came together in a tangle of lips and limbs. Fili pulled Gili into a scorching kiss that made her blood sing with his name. Her arms came up to wind around his neck, her fingers grabbed his long golden hair to pull him closer to her still and though she was technically still untouched, she moaned like a cheap whore in the brothels of men.

Fili tugged Gili, turning her around and pressing her back to his chest. He pressed kisses to her neck as he pulled the silken sheet from around her. Her scent assaulted the brothers both in the best way, their initial bond allowing them some control over their baser passions so that they didn’t lose themselves entirely. But the taste of Gili beneath Fili’s lips and tongue was causing him to quickly lose his composure and he growled deep within his chest and pushed her onto all fours before him.

Kili’s eyes were wide as he watched the sight before him. Gili was breathing heavily and moaning as Fili touched her all over, squeezing her lovely round breasts and teasing her nipples until they stood out from her chest in hard little nubs. “Please brother,” she begged, words that were the sweetest music to Kili’s ears as they were to Fili’s.

Kili was beside himself with need and knew that he would never be able sate himself alone, for his own hands would never be enough. He moved then from in front of Gili to strip his clothes from his lithe body and slide, on his back, beneath her, almost top to toe. The sight before him was glorious. As he looked up, Kili saw that his brother had already stripped himself as well and now his large, thick cock was swollen and pressed up, riding along the crack of Gili’s arse.

Gili’s scent was overwhelming to Kili and drew him in like the smell of a feast to a starving creature. She was so wet and glistening, her honeyed dew mixed with the blood of her flowering. Kili licked his way up her lovely pale thighs until his tongue felt the soft, thick curls that dripped with the evidence of Gili’s pleasure.

Fili pulled back and looked down to see Kili licking his way toward Gili’s core. Kili’s eyes locked with his own and Fili nodded his approval before running his cock up and down Gili’s slit. “Namadith,” Fili said as he leaned over to kiss his way up her back. “I have no wish to hurt you, darling One,” he continued, “but there might be some pain for you this first time.”

“Please, brother,” Gili moaned, “there is so much pain now. Please, please make it stop. Make it go away, Fee. Make me yours, _kidhuzel_ ,” Gili begged to her _gold of all golds_.

Fili could bear her pleas no longer. He lined up his cock at the entrance to her sheath and eased the head between her nether lips. Her slick eased the way a bit but Mahal she was tight. He groaned as he gave a single thrust, piercing her maidenhead and binding her to him forever. Gili cried out when she felt that thrust but then began to whisper “yes…yes…yes” as Fili moved slowly in and out, in and out.

Kili witnessed his sister’s breaching as he licked at her from below with his tongue. The evidence of her deflowering leaked from her depths as Fili withdrew his staff and Kili drank of their passions, sealing a bond in blood to his siblings. Gili, meanwhile was not so caught up in her pleasure that she didn’t see how hard and needy Kili was beneath her. She reached to grasp his shaft, feeling it twitch in her hand and hearing him groan into her as he licked and suckled on her pearl. She licked around his weeping slit tasting him for the first time. He was salty-sweet and she wanted, no, she _needed_ more.

“Yes, sister,” Fili praised. “Take him in your mouth. Suck him down and drink your fill. He is yours for the taking, beloved.”

Kili was out of his mind with the most agonizing pleasure he had ever felt. His precious baby sister’s mouth was a cavern of white-hot heat surrounding him in pleasure. It took all of his self-control to not piston his hips up and just fuck her mouth until he came undone. She was, however, too treasured for him to give her that kind of treatment. So he contented himself with moans and growls as he continued to lick and suckle at her core, snaking his tongue up her slit to lick at Fili’s cock as it was buried deep within her.

Fili had not had much experience in the ways of the giving and receiving of pleasure, and he was fairly certain that his siblings had had even less than he, but they were all three guided in their passions by the whimpers and moans of each other. Fili could feel the quivering of his sister’s sheath around him and the insistent licks of his brother’s tongue on his cock and stones as the younger pleasured them both.

So it was not surprising that at the first sign that Kili was close and Gili was coming undone beneath him, Fili lost the ability to think. His mind was utterly consumed with feeling. He felt Gili shudder, her inner muscles clamped around him and suckle on his shaft as her perfect mouth suckled on his brother’s. She was moaning and whimpering around Kili’s cock as rode out wave after wave of orgasm. Fili filled her then pressing into her as he bathed the entrance to her womb with his release and still he continued to piston in and out, past the point of over-sensation until he too came again with a shout.

Kili knew the moment his brother fell apart, just as he had known his sweet sister had come undone many times. He recognized the shaking limbs, the groaning cries, for it was exactly what he was experiencing himself as Gili’s juices bathed his face. He relinquished the hold of his mouth on her sweet pussy to plead with her to release him. “Please, Gili, stop love. I cannot hold back any longer. You…ahh…must…not…azyungal…oh MAHAL!”

But Gili would not be denied and upon hearing Kili’s pleas, she sucked even harder and grabbed his hips, pulling him upward until her nose was firmly planted in his stones, her chin in his thick black curls, his cock in her throat. She was so full!

Kili had never come so very hard in his life as he felt Gili’s throat swallow mouthful after mouthful of his spend. What she was unable to take, was allowed to dribble from her lips back down his staff, to pool around its base, to be licked and slurped up when she pulled off of him at last. And lick it away she did. Gili couldn’t get enough. The taste of Kili was nectar to her.

The trio coupled together many more times and long into the night. Their cries of passion were heard throughout the camp, much to the delight and intrigue of the elves present, and much to the chagrin of the King Under the Mountain. After the fourth coupling, Thorin had left the camp to walk around the opposite side of the lake. He realized that it would take more than just his acceptance of their bonding to bring peace to his heart regarding that bond. He could not empathize with the trio that he still very much considered dwarflings. He thought of his sister, their mother, at home in Erebor and felt a punch in his gut that he had never allowed himself to submit to a bond such as theirs. Unless he rectified that situation he would never know how each felt as though their siblings’ names were carved upon their very souls.

Nothing could be closer to the truth, for as the trio found the peak of their individual passions, they also completed the bonding of their hearts, their souls and their lives. “Mine,” Gili sighed as she turned to lie next to and hold onto her beloved brothers. “Ours,” they replied with a smile, as they drew her closer. They kissed her dimpled cheeks and watched as she held Fili’s hand. Even at her age, Gili’s thumb found her mouth in contentment and her hand curled into Kili’s hair.

The trio slept, joined and bonded at last. They belonged to each other. They were truly each other’s One. And someday, hopefully after a long and fruitful life, they would be laid rest in the stone from whence they came, only to be joined together once again by Mahal in the forever to come.


	25. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****  
> _No story is ever complete. It is told, re-told, heard and reheard. It is a living thing that grows and changes with the telling and the hearing. Because there were so many requests, I am re-visiting the trio, one last time. Thank you and blessing to all who encouraged me, hung in there with me to the bitter end, and all who took a chance on me and the vision I had for this story._   
> 

Returning to Erebor took a further two days after the siblings left the shelter of their elven tent. Gili’s pain had subsided as soon as the bond with her brothers was complete. She ceased to bleed and her scent faded until her next flowering where it would call only to Fili and Kili. She ran to her uncle and king, throwing herself into his arms and begging his forgiveness which he gave before she could even ask. 

She rode a pony between her brothers all the way to the front gates of the Lonely Mountain. Dis had been alerted to the return of the princess by the time they reached Dale and greeted her prodigal daughter with open arms and many tears. Each member of her family the matriarch held in turn, shifting at last to Thorin. Her eyes shone with unshed tears as she looked up at him, her thanks so evident on her face. “You…you will not separate them, brother?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“No, dearest,” Thorin assured his sister, the one most precious to his heart. “They are bound, azyungal. They will not be leaving you again.”

Dis’ eyes snapped up to her brother’s face upon hearing his words. “Azyun…?” her voice trailed off, for she could not begin to hope that she had heard him right.

“We have much of which to speak, sweet sister,” Thorin said as he tucked her under his arm next to his heart and turned to enter the mountain followed by his heirs. They were safe. They were all safe and now would begin the work of seeing to it that their people accepted the bonding of their future king to his kin.

********************

 

That had been nearly a year ago. As soon as Gili was taken to Oin to be cared for, her ankle tended, and her mother satisfied that she was truly healthy, Balin had set to work researching any precedent for the union of Thorin’s heirs, should one be needed. An announcement was made that the siblings were bonded before Mahal. Gili would be wed to Fili and when it came time for the young prince to rule over his people as king, it would be with his queen and his consort at his side. The people cheered and the official bonding ceremony was attended by all, including envoys of men, elves and the dwarves who lived outside of Erebor in the Iron Hills, Blue Mountains and Moria.

Fili and Kili were pacing now, every few moments seeking out each other for a touch or gaze that would comfort them as they listened to their One screaming in the next room. It took the combined force of Thorin and Dwalin both to keep them from running to her. Thorin had made certain to check Fili over thoroughly for the usual weapons he kept stored in his various clothing, and even some of the not-so-usual weapons that might possibly have found their way upon his person today. “You mother is with her, my sister-sons,” Thorin said, “as well as Oin. She is in good hands.” 

The princes still paced, Fili looking decidedly more guilty with every scream, Kili more frightened. Finally, they stood facing each other, foreheads pressed tightly together, fingers laced, hands clasped. “What have I done?” Fili whispered over and over. “How could I have……”

“Shhh, beloved,” Kili whispered in return. “Just breathe with me. You’ve done naught but your duty, beloved, nothing but show your love for our One.”

Their bonding had, in fact, resulted in Gili’s pregnancy. It was almost unheard of for a female dwarf, especially one as young as Gili, to become pregnant during her first flowering. But from her untimely, difficult birth, to her familial bonding, there had never been anything typical about the Little Mouse of Erebor. It was certainly considered a gift from Mahal when a female dwarf conceived and carried a babe to term, resulting in a live birth. So when Gili’s screams ceased and another tinier bellowing took her place, the brothers beamed at each other and embraced.

Dis poked her head out of the birthing room, her face aglow, her smile beaming brightly, to bring the news the assembly had waited for the past day and a half. “Erebor has a new golden prince,” she smiled at Fili who looked like he would have hit his knees had it not been for Kili’s arms around him so tightly. “He is beautiful, Fili, and…” Dis’ words cut off abruptly as Gili screamed again, a shrill, blood-curdling cry that swept Dis back into the room followed closely by Fili and Kili. This time neither Thorin nor Dwalin dared to hold them back, nor did they try, for they followed as well.

Fili and Kili ran to either side of Gili’s bed, clutching at her hands as Oin pulled another pink, squalling, wriggling bundle from her body. “Twins,” Oin announced. “A prince and a princess.”

“A blessing from Mahal, surely,” Balin said with reverence. For never before had any female dwarf been delivered of more than one babe at a time. “This union is most certainly blessed.”

“Wezli and Wenli,” Gili whispered as she gazed with such love upon the tiny, mewling balls of life that she had nurtured within her body for the last year. Her brothers looked at her with such awe but no one questioned the names she had chosen for her children. 

They had been named for the little orc to whom she owed her life, the same little orc who had given his life for hers, Weznuk. One of the only things she had kept from her ordeal was the bone Weznuk had given her to defend herself, the bone he had pulled from his own flesh to cut through the tent that had been her prison. Gili had carved it with lovely runes of blessing and figures which represented her loves. She had worn it round her neck since her return and now she honored the little lost orc in the only way she could. She lived each day to its fullest and gave her people a new generation of heirs.

********************

 

The lives of the trio continued and time passed as it always does. Thorin had admitted his love for their mother and she had admitted that she had always known. Though she had cared deeply for the father of her children she had never allowed a bond to form with him for Thorin was always her One. When Dis passed away from illness a short decade after the birth of her twin grandchildren, Thorin followed her shortly after, refusing to be parted again from his One. They were returned to the stone and rested together, mourned by their people, remembered always by their family and friends.

Fili was crowned King Under the Mountain. With Gili his Queen and Kili their Prince Consort, the three ruled the dwarves of Middle-earth for almost two centuries. The kingdom knew peace and prosperity under their reign and it was truly a golden age for their people. 

When Gili finally reached the end of her long life, she lay upon the bed she had shared with her beloved brothers for more than two hundred years. She looked up into eyes that had grown dim with age, but they had never shown more brightly as they gazed upon her now. The deep blue of one set had faded and lightened with the passing of each year. The inky depths of the other lighter now too. But they gazed with the love she had cherished and was loathe to leave behind. “I will be waiting, my loves,” she whispered as she gently squeezed their hands. “Mine…” 

“Ours,” they replied. When she closed her eyes and breathed her last, her children cried for they knew their fathers would not be long behind her. A love as strong as theirs would not be denied, even for stone. The story of the trio was written by Mahal long before their births and told by countless generations long after their deaths. Kings and queens came and went who all owed their lives and their reign to a trio of dwarfling who stood up for a bond and one little orc who found redemption in love.


End file.
